<p>Most of the schools I'm planning on applying to are on the east coast and naturally favor the SAT over ACT in admissions. However, they still do accept the ACT with writing as an alternative to the SAT I and the subject tests. I took the SAT I and my results were ridiculously poor- not nearly adequate enough for schools that I'm considering to apply to. However, I do have a 31 on the ACT, which generally falls at about the 50 percentile mark at these schools, and which I believe I can do better on when I retake it in september. Despite the fact that these colleges prefer the SAT, because my success is so low on that exam, I will most likely be submitting solely my ACT with writing. Will this action lower my chances of being accepted into these schools, or will they be ambivalent to my choice, as long as I have one of the two?</p>
<p>no, they really don’t care anymore. i’ve heard them say it a hundred times, they look at them the same way. you still might have to take some sat subject tests though.</p>
<p>It’s funny that I see this asked often at info sessions and here on CC. Why do people doubt the colleges when they clearly state there is no disadvantage in taking the ACT? What would the COLLEGES gain from that? They WANT great kids. Why would they direct kids to disadvantage themselves?</p>
<p>so not true. search for tokenadult’s threads on this subject. And personally, I know of many students who got into east coast schools by just submitting the ACT. So, if the ACT is your stronger exam, then don’t hesitate sending that one in to your colleges.</p>
<p>No college of any significance has a preference anymore between the ACT brand name and SAT brand name. Read each college website to be sure. Take the test that is convenient for you to take where you live, or maybe take both, but just don’t worry about this. (This question was asked tonight, among many other questions, at the Exploring Educational Excellence joint session in my town. Colleges vary about whether they require SAT Subject Tests or not, but colleges generally treat the ACT as every bit as useful and convincing as the SAT Reasoning Test.)</p>
<p>Although colleges say that, I still feel suspicious about whether it is true. For example, they say that they always take the highest combination of scores, but what if you got like a 1600/2400 and a 30 on your ACT, and had to submit subject tests? I know they’re suppose to take the 30 and subject test scores but seeing a SAT score like that would still hurt you, wouldn’t it?</p>
<p>What, really? I doubt you’d have too many Chinese websites talking about the ACT though…the SAT is almost the de facto test out here in Asia (but that’s primarily due to the discrepancy in the number of SAT and ACT centres) - I’m speaking from an Indian perspective.</p>