<p>Ok, I am a Male finishing up my Junior year. I am not looking for chances yet (still waiting on my second ACT score to come back, and acceptance letters from some summer EC's etc.)</p>
<p>I do however want some advice. Firstly I live firmly in the heart of the ACT belt, and as such have not taken an SAT. I scored 203 on PSAT and 31 on the ACT (expecting the one coming back next week to be much higher)</p>
<p>Assuming I raise my ACT to the 33-34 range will it still hurt my chances at top 25 school (including Ivies) if I do not post an SAT score? I know admissions officers say it will not, but does anyone have any experience applying with a high ACT and no SAT to back this up?</p>
<p>Secondly my school is very under competitive. We do not normally offer AP's, and do Dual Credit with a local college instead. In fact I knew almost nothing about AP's until well in to my Junior year. I understand colleges evaluate you on the path you take within your schools context but I need some help picking classes for next year.</p>
<p>I have discovered I can take some AP's next year through a State sponsored Long Distance Learning program but to my understanding I won't have AP exams early enough for any applications so with that in mind am i better off taking AP's over LDL or attempting to arrange something with the local college to take 2-3 college courses a semester next year along with my regular dual credit English and regular "Advanced" (I use this term lightly but the are 5 point weighted) HS classes.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer.</p>
<p>Bump. Need some advice. Thanks!</p>
<p>Best of both worlds would be both to take APs and classes at your community college. Colleges won’t penalize you if your school does not offer AP classes and whatnot; it’s really a matter of how you utilize the things you have. If you have a chance to take those AP classes, and you really want to, then I say go for it.</p>
<p>Thanks. I was just wondering if it would be pointless to take AP’s if I would not be able to take the tests by application time, or if AP credits would still be valued similarly to (more expensive) college credits? I will probably use some mix of each. I am talking with my counselor next Tuesday to go over all of my options for next year. Any other advice to this end would be great.</p>
<p>Before you go talk to the counselor, look at or copy the AP credit policies at your target schools. Some Flagships give lots of credit, Emory caps it at 24 credits, some LAC’s award no credit etc. It really varies.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, (will do) although I am not ALL that concerned with earning credit as much as which would look stronger to admissions, and the ‘relative’ application value of AP classes with the tests still untaken?</p>
<p>Also, any takers on my ACT vs SAT question?</p>
<p>One more bump… any takers on the first question…</p>
<p>I really want to know the answer to the act vs. sat question too, so someone please reply! :)</p>
<p>-As for APs, if your school doesn’t offer it, then don’t actively seek it out if you already have a strong academic profile. They won’t look better than you not taking them, because the schools won’t penalize you at all for your high school not offering them. I can’t tell you how many times adcoms have emphasized this at tours/events I’ve been to-- your guidance department sends a school profile to every college, describing your school, and part of that includes APs/IB/other such courses/test types offered. If schools see your school doesn’t offer it, then they’ll evaluate you in the context of your school, not in the context of a school that offers APs. So you’re safe in that regard.</p>
<p>-As for SATs vs ACT: You absolutely do <em>not</em> have to send your SAT I score to a school if they give you the option of ACT vs. SAT. Here are the usual options colleges offer:
a) SAT I and (usually 2-3) SAT II subject tests
b) ACT and (usually 2-3) SAT II subject tests
c) ACT with writing section
d) SAT, SAT (usually 2-3) SAT II subject tests, and ACT</p>
<p>I know plenty of kids who didn’t take the SAT who got into great schools by submitting one of the ACT combinations I mentioned. Don’t worry.</p>
<p>Some schools, however, require that you submit all SAT I and SAT II scores (these are the schools that don’t accept “score choice,” which is when you can opt not to send some scores if you don’t like your grade on them.</p>
<p>Remember to check each school’s policy regarding the submission of such standardized tests so that you know exactly what they require and what they will/won’t accept.</p>
<p>And good luck!</p>