<p>Hello all!</p>
<p>I am a very strong student with high GPA and extra curriculars, but after months of hard work, my SAT scores just aren't very high (1980).
I am applying to many test-optional schools, but are there good schools where SATs don't count as much as other schools?</p>
<p>Thanks! </p>
<p>See <a href=“ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest”>http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional</a></p>
<p>Universities of California, but they are probably too expensive if you are a non-California resident with financial need.</p>
<p>A 1980 is 92nd percentile, so I don’t know where you get the idea that isn’t very good. That will get you in almost every school in the country, just not the very, very top. Among those very, very top schools where your score won’t get you in, the number that are test optional is very, very small, and they aren’t the Ivies. The top national university would be Wake Forest, fairly far down the list in the 20s. Test optional is more common among the LACs, where top completely test optional schools are Bowdoin, Smith, Bates, and I think Wesleyan just went there. A few others like Hamilton and Bates are “test flexible”, meaning you have to submit tests, you can just submit whatever combination of tests work best for you among a variety. After that, you’re below the Top 25 for both lists, which your test would be fine for anyway.</p>
<p>Colorado College is also test flexible- can submit SAT, and/or ACT, and/or have 3 other scores from a menu of AP and IB tests, Subject Tests, etc.</p>
<p>I believe Hampshire College won’t even accept standardized test anymore. Won’t even look at them.</p>
<p>Another way to assess how much weight a school gives standardized tests is to research the “Common Data Sets” for each individual school. Once you download it for a certain school, go to section C and you will find a grid that prioritizes a variety of academic and non academic factors from “most important” to “not considered”. </p>