<p>English is my second language and my counselor is absolutely convinced that I do mediocre on standardized test scores because of this. (Haha to me, I feel its actually nerve.) I got thinking however...is she right? She plans to put this in my counselor recommendation, but how much do you think it will actually help? And don't get me wrong, to this day I'm working on prepping for the SAT/ACT, but.. will this language barrier help me in any way?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>And yes, I do realize there are more to an application than standardized testing, but this is my main concern.</p>
<p>try to do well on your SATII subject tests then..........usually you probably won't be expected to ace the SATI.....but you still need to do descently well or at least average like other students (somewhere like 1800 - 1900...it depends how long you been here) to be competitive in the applicant pool. I do believe if you are ESL, SATII will probably weight more for you.</p>
<p>I don't know how to say this without sounding as if I'm bragging, but English is my third language and I scored 800 on CR, 710 on W, and 750 on the Literature subject test. Colleges won't be expecting perfect scores, but I don't think that having English as a second language issue is enough to explain away scores that are truly mediocre. I agree with suze that you should consider taking the TOEFL.</p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>
<p>edit: I sound so obnoxious in this post, but I don't know how else to say this... sorry.</p>
<p>Let me brag a bit, too, if only to make the point that the OP's excuse for not doing well may not be convincing to ADCOM. I was born and brought up in the US, but we don't speak English at home. (It was in kindergarten that I learnt English.) Still, I have 800 in CR and 790 in W.</p>
<p>suze is right about the TOEFL requirement. But if you have high SAT scores, you are exempted by most of the universities.</p>
<p>haha I figured. I guess I can let my counselor put whatever on my recommendation and hope for the best. Thanks for your input, and just as a side note, I was not born here in the U.S, I was actually born in a different country, went to school there for a bit and then moved.</p>
<p>oh and let me add that this is post was not 'an excuse' for my mediocre scores. I was simply asking. If you re-read my post, I said that I'm continuing to work on standardized testing to this day.</p>
<p>I didn't mean to imply that you were trying to excuse your scores, only that they're unlikely to be sympathetic. (FWIW, I was also born outside the US; I moved here when I was 12.) Have you tried taking the ACT? Some people find it easier.</p>