<p>I've been wondering for awhile if I made the right choice when I picked the ACT over the SAT</p>
<p>for instance
do colleges view an application that submitted a SAT score the same with another application that submitted an ACT score?
If so, why is it that the percent of people submitting ACT scores is so much lower than the percent peeps who submit SAT scores?</p>
<p>Similarly, I've heard that at the top schools (ivies and whatnot), many applicants submit both a SAT and an ACT...does doing so make you a more favorable candidate than a person who submitted just an ACT or vice versa? (granted that all scores submitted were high)</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>College say that they treat both the same. I guess you can say that you can hide behind a score like 29 or 30(good but not great) and not turn in your SAT score. They also say they take your highest if you turn in both, so a 33 ACT would take an advantage over a 1380 SAT, but what about a 30 ACT and a 1300 SAT? I really don't know if they'll take someone who has a 32 ACT and a 1300 SAT vs another guy 32 ACT and a 1400 SAT, they should definitely weigh the GPA and leadership/activity involvement over scores. Also depends what your scores are, is there a huge difference? There are some states in which taking the ACT is one of those things that everyone at school talks about instead of the SAT and schools in which it's a big deal if you take the SAT instead of the ACT, like in different parts of the country. Colleges shouldn't mind, it's still very hard to score a 33+, some people think it's easier and you may hear a lot of stories of people saying their 34 ACT was a breeze over their 1300 SAT, but you might not hear of the stories in which people were saved by the SAT because of how bad they did on the ACT. But like I said, it depends on your SAT/ACT scores.</p>
<p>They use conversion charts and if they take both tests, which most of them do now, they weight them equally. Doesn't matter as far as they're concerned which one you take.</p>
<p>colleges accept both now.. so you can choose whichever one you're best at... take both to see which one, and then after that, keep taking the one that is better for you.. that's what I did (ACT works a lot better for me)</p>
<p>two scores are rarely the same...so having two scores allows them to pick the one, and report this one, they perceive as better</p>
<p>ok I see
thanks for the responses by the way
and just one last thing:</p>
<p>If I live in a state where the SAT is taken by the majority of students, then does it make ME look bad if I take the ACT? judging by the answers, the answer seems to be no...(but I want to make sure =D)</p>
<p>I wouldn't think so.. it shouldn't matter which one you take, no matter which one the people around you are taking.. you gotta take the one that's best for you.. so i'd say no, it doesn't matter</p>
<p>bump
thanks peytoncline</p>
<p>any other opinions?</p>
<p>Messyman, I can't speak for other states, but in my state (Illinois) all high schoolers are required to take the ACT as part of statewide testing. Colleges know this, and don't expend a lot of energy into trying to second-guess why you took the SAT or the ACT. Really, there's nothing to game. Whichever one suits your purposes or your schedule.</p>