I think I might take the ACT instead of the SAT, since the ACT is more suited to my study methods. However, do universities have a preference when it comes to these two tests? I’m an international student, if that matters.
The old days of a number of colleges preferring one over the other have now been gone for over a decade and, despite that there are still many high school students who believe otherwise, either is accepted without preference for one over the other. Where you get differences is in what additonal materials are required if you submit one or the other. More than half the colleges that require SAT subject tests require them only if you submit the SAT and accept the ACT in lieu of both the SAT and subject tests. Also, some of the colleges that require you to submit all of your SAT test scores if you took multiple tests and submit any SAT, require you to submit only one ACT test if you choose to submit ACT.
No, there is no preference.
If they accept both, they have no preference.
Thanks for the responses!
I don’t think there is any preference either. The colleges will tell you they accept either, so I say trust them. I only took the ACT because my school stressed that way more. After sifting through responses here at CC, I became nervous because most people took the SAT. However, the fact that I took the ACT without taking the SAT or any subject tests did not hurt me at all-I recommend doing one or both, whatever you are comfortable with.
One thing I forgot to add was that the PSAT does have an advantage: the national merit scholarship. I’m not too familiar with this scholarship since I never took the SAT, but it is worth looking into.
@meandcandy Thanks! Although I won’t be giving the PSAT, since I won’t be eligible for those scholarships because I’m an international student.
Oops sorry I didn’t realize! I guess this further highlights that I have little understanding of the SAT haha. Good luck ^____^
@meandcandy No problem, and thanks!
I know that colleges publicly state that either test is fine, I’m a bit skeptical. Especially for top tier and Ivy schools.
If you look at the distribution of top scores for the ACT vs SAT a big difference emerges. At Duke for instance the 25-75 percentile for accepted students who took the ACT is: 33-35 composite (engineering). However if you look at the accepted students who took the SAT and were accepted to Duke the CR score ranged from 700-800.
When you are an admissions officer at a top school wouldn’t you want finer ability to distinguish between top candidates? SAT has less of a ceiling effect as compared to ACT.
So my hunch is that for highly selective schools scoring high on the SAT can be better than scoring high on the ACT.
Either is fine.
Most colleges will specify if they prefer one over the other, but that is very well. A lot of students do better on either the SAT or ACT due to the fact that they are two different testing styles and ACT leans more towards science oriented individuals. I reccomend taking both to see which you do better on 
@sgopal2 Thanks. I won’t be applying to many highly selective universities, maybe 2 or 3 at the most (although I won’t be disappointed if I don’t get into them).
@jym626 Thanks.
@taypowers Thanks, although I’ll only take one (saving money and I know I’ll do better on the ACT).