<p>Hey, I'm a senior in a high school of approx. 400 students. As of now I rank 16th with a GPA of approx. 96/100 (3.9/4.0). I'm in the Top 5%. I've taken a tough class scedule including 5 APs and 4 honors classes throughout high school. I have 2 varsity sports, soccer and lacrosse. Honor Society, academic club, youth group, fundraisers to raise awareness for breast cancer, ALS fundraisers, I'm on a dance team, marching band, concert band, kickline, and more (not going into everything for a laundry list).</p>
<p>Awards and honors include high honor roll and scholar athlete awards.</p>
<p>THE ISSUE!</p>
<p>I took the SAT twice, my highest scores being CR: 560 M: 600 W:500. Horrifc when compared to the schools I'm looking at.</p>
<p>I'm very interested in Boston University (BU), however, I don't think my scores are high enough and they'll count me out right away. Actually, I fear this for most of my schools. I'm not dumb and I'm not a bad test taker, just a bad SAT taker.</p>
<p>I'm starting to look into test optional schools but I wanted to know what you guys thought about admission to other good schools for top students?</p>
<p>Assuming your grades and AP scores are good, I would recommend either trying again with some serious prep or giving the ACT a shot. The SAT isn’t some people’s cup of tea. If not, I would start looking at test-optional schools.</p>
<p>BU looks at a student in a holistic fashion. It is not all about test scores. That being said, I would suggest that you ask your guidance counselor to emphasize your strengths despite your SAT scores not being as high as you would lie. As barbieprincess94 mentioned, try the ACT. I am saying this as a parent. I know of a case where a student did not perform as well as he would liked on the SAT. His mother was concerned. I gave him an ACT prep book and told him to learn it. He did. He scored very well and was able to obtain significant merit monies. One of my children loves the SAT while another loves the ACT. It shows on the test as well. I wish you the best.</p>
<p>Your situation is much better than having killer test scores and bad grades for no apparent reason. If you love BU, apply to BU. Regardless of what (if anything) you do between now and then to improve your numbers. If you don’t apply, they definitely won’t accept you.</p>
<p>How did you feel after you took the test? Have you analyzed exactly where you are having problems with the SAT? Did you practice before you took it? Is the issue that you run out of time? Is it certain kinds of questions? If you can figure this out, you can focus on improving those areas that are weakest. And I second the ACT suggestion.</p>
<p>As for how competitive you are for BU, check the Common Data Set for BU last year. (Google it.) It will tell you how you compare to the admitted student population.</p>
<p>High GPA and such a low SAT suggests that you go to a very easy school. Try the ACT; if you don’t do better on that, you don’t really have a shot at BU. However, I have known some kids who got in the 1700-1900ss on the SAT and 32-34 on the ACT…</p>
<p>What are your SAT subject tests/AP scores like?</p>