So, this has been haunting me for several months now, but I need another person’s opinion. Back when I applied to all of my schools, after sending my 35 on the ACT and getting ready to send my 800 in Chemistry and 780 in Math II, I accidentally checked the option to send ALL SAT SCORES to Harvard. (1800-range on SAT I, and High-500’s on the few other subject tests I took). Now, a smart person would have probably avoided doing that, but clearly I don’t fall under this category. I understand that Harvard really has no preference for either ACT or SAT, and only really want to look at 2 subject tests, but did I royally screw up by sending everything? Will (or have) red flags been raised on my application because they see the good, the bad, and the ugly test scores that I sent? Or am I completely overreacting and just paranoid?
Any response would be greatly appreciated, and thank you!
I can only hope that they are true to their word and just look at the highest scores as they all say they do. It is hard to know unless you get in and then you can report back. My guess is they won’t reject you over this if they want you based on the rest of your application.
Nah. In fact, I thought the ivies ask for ALL the test scores anyways… They’re really gonna pay attention to the highest scores, they don’t have enough time to regard each and every bad test score when there are so many good ones.
@1203southview I hope that’s the case. I know the odds of actually being accepted are minimal, but to know that I was rejected due to an error on my application would devastate me.
I also thought Harvard wanted all the test scores, based on what they said at the information sesssion before our campus tour. They gave the impression they wanted as much information about you as is relevant, they will never look down on someone who makes a big improvement on their scores, as they know there is more to a person than a single score, anyone can have a bad day. They talked about superscoring, but they also stressed that they are looking for much more than the test scores. The stressed they want to see that students take tough courses and do well at them, this is far more important than any standard test score.
They did say they will sometimes wonder about someone who scores 2300 on five straight sittings of the SAT tests, as that is a very good score, but why does this person keep taking the tests - don’t they have something more interesting to do on their Saturdays? They added that this wouldn’t automatically keep someone out, as their admissions process is much more complex than just scores.
So @dgat35 I wouldn’t worry about it - I actually got the impression that they would look more favorably at someone who took the tests twice and made a big improvement on the second set, over someone who took tests three times and got the same final score. Congrats on your 35 on the ACT.
My son took the SATs twice, and got 2100 (entering junior year), and 2340 (fall of senior year), and was waitlisted at Harvard.
IMHO, there’s nothing to worry about. Yes, Harvard will notice that there is a dramatic difference between your SAT and ACT score, however some kids do better on one test than the other. So, they’ll go “Look how great he did on the ACT – so glad the College Board is revamping their test next year to be more the ACT,” Then they will use the 35 to calculate your Academic Index and move on to your transcript, teacher recommendations, guidance counselor report, interview report and essays.