<p>I'm a current high school senior and I am considering applying to Duke early decision. The only thing holding me back is a question regarding Duke's SAT and SAT Subject Tests policy. On Duke's website, it says that SATs and Subject Tests should be taken by October 5th for ED. But after that, it also says that they will accept additional testing from November 2nd. Unfortunately, I procrastinated a little bit and have only taken the SAT as of October 5th. I am currently signed up for two SAT Subject Tests on November 2nd, and was wondering if not having the subject tests completed will either hurt my chances or result in my application being discarded, if I send the scores in as soon as I can. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>If you are a slam dunk admit, your application will not be impacted by the late submission. However, if you are a slam dunk admit, it is unlikely that you would be posting here. By slam dunk admit, I am referring to an exceedingly small group: a five-star athletic recruit, the inventor of cold fusion, or Sasha Obama.</p>
<p>For the other 99%+ of applicants, your review will be negatively impacted. Consider the timeline - your scores won’t reach Duke until mid-November. With the mid-December decision looming (and Thanksgiving intervening), most of the review will be completed and many decisions will already be finalized before your score arrive.</p>
<p>Even if the rest of your application is stellar, the glaring hole of an application requirement will be perceived negatively. Adcoms might assume: applicant is an irresponsible procrastinator; applicant has already taken Subject Test but scored poorly; applicant cannot follow directions for proper submittal; etc.</p>
<p>If you have takent the ACT with a decent score, I would suggest you submit this - this removes the need for Subject Tests. If not, I would encourage you to wait for RD.</p>
<p>In this case, I actually think that the OP is fine. The wording for testing requirements states
and
</p>
<p>If you don’t submit a SAT Subject Test, I would personally think that they would delay your file until the testing is received-- because it would make little sense to fully consider an applicant unless there were assurances that minimum testing requirements were met. I would be a little more wary if Duke strongly recommended that October was the latest testing date, but they don’t make that same strong recommendation and say that they accept November testing dates-- so I’m inclined to believe them.</p>
<p>Rmldad makes a strong case in having the scores in-- of course, it would be better to have them in-- but I can’t imagine you would be far from the only applicant to trust Duke when they say that they will accept November testing, and I don’t believe you would be at a particular disadvantage (painfully naive as I am).</p>
<p>purpleacorn makes some valid points, and I admit that I should have qualified some of my statements (your review will “likely” be negatively impacted; the glaring hole of an application requirement will “likely” be perceived negatively).</p>
<p>purple’s quotes from the web site are helpful, but open to interpretation. Is there a difference in the deadlines between submitting “additional” scores after the required date and “all existing” scores? In other words, does Duke expect something to be submitted at the deadline, but they will accept improved scores later?</p>
<p>Similarly, “should submit” by the deadline and “will consider” sound an awful lot like “optional” application material in contrast to “required” material. In highly selective admissions, the prevailing wisdom is that there is no such thing as “optional” submittals.</p>
<p>Will OP’s application be discarded without Subject Test scores before the deadline? Almost certainly not. Will it be negatively impacted? Almost certainly yes. The only question is how great this negative impact will be. Based solely on my conjecture - this negative impact will be far greater than the slight benefit of applying ED. I stand by my recommendation to wait for a complete package and apply RD.</p>
<p>BTW purpleacorn, what are you doing on CC this weekend? Shouldn’t you be enjoying your Fall Break? I always appreciate your input.</p>
<p>To the OP, my advice dpestands, though rmldad points out important ramifications of not having your SAT II tests by the time you submit your application and what the adcoms may be thinking. However, if you are otherwise a competitive applicant for ED, I wouldn’t let the arrival of late SAT II scores stop you completely from applying. But I would (if possible. New CA sucks.) list the intended SAT II tests somewhere on the app. I wouldn’t necessarily make the same recommendation for EA, but Duke has been putting such an emphasis on ED as of late,and I am hopelesly optimstic and naive. Good luck on your app, regardless of what you decide to do.</p>
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Thanks for noticing-- but when one s still has a paper due today at five, one does not enjoy fall break-- I simply find reasons to convince myself not to work on them for the time being. (I have, however, gotten quite a lot of sleep.)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for replying! I’m probably just going to apply ed anyways and hope for the best.</p>