How Much Do Subject Tests REALLY Matter?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I just finished applying to a wide variety of schools, some public and some private. The most competitive on my list are Cornell, Stanford, Brown, Dartmouth, and Yale. I'll give you more specific stats below, but my transcript is very strong, my SAT/ACT are decent, my ECs are pretty good, and my essays are very well written. The only part of my application that I'm having trouble measuring in comparison to the rest are my SAT IIs. 690 math I, 640 chem, 630 lit.</p>

<p>So I have a few questions for you admissions smarties out there:</p>

<ol>
<li>Are these SAT II scores bad in general?</li>
<li>Are they exceptionally low for the schools I'm applying to?</li>
<li>How much weight would the ivies/Stanford put in these scores?</li>
<li>How much weight would they put in AP/regents exam scores in comparison?</li>
<li>Are my AP/regents exam scores anything special for that caliber of school? I feel like this is the strongest part of my application, along with the essays.</li>
<li><strong><em>DRUM ROLL</em></strong> What are my chances of getting in to one of these schools?</li>
</ol>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 680 M, 660 CR, 640 W
ACT: 31 Comp., 35 Eng, 31 M, 31 R, 28 S, 6 W
GPA: 97.9 unweighted
Classes: All AP this year, taking calculus, already have 4 years of spanish, took 1 AP and 2 courses through local colleges last year, all honors otherwise
Exams: Regents exam average of 97.3, 100 on trig, 5 on AP Eng Lang + Comp, lots of other 100s</p>

<p>ECs and Awards:</p>

<p>2 varsity sports (wrestling and track)
NHS
Spanish honor society
Sunrise Optimist Club essay contest 1st place
University of Rochester Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology
NYS Scholarship for Academic Excellence
Part-time job (I work at Subway)
Plenty of community service hours, got a few different sources listed on my resume</p>

<p>Thanks for any help/advice, this is my first time posting on this forum (I hope this is in the right place!)</p>

2

<p>LPscholar, </p>

<p>1.The average scores are not consistent across all SAT Subject Tests. For instance, on the SAT Subject Test in Literature, the average score is a low 580, while on the SAT Subject Test in Chemistry, it’s a 638.
So your literature score is good, and your chem is average.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Colleges don’t care about the average scores. They care about your scores and, if they’re high, you’ll improve your chances for admission to a highly selective college.
Most colleges do not publicize their SAT Subject Test admissions data. However, for elite colleges you will ideally have scores in the 700s. </p></li>
<li><p>SAT Subject Tests are important is because they allow college admissions counselors to level the playing field for applicants. If two applicants have the same grades it all goes down to SAT II scores.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>4.In general, AP tests have nothing to do with college admissions. They’re used to determine if you will receive college credit for the tests you passed. </p>

<p>5.AP tests are scored 1 to 5 (or 1 to 6, depending on the test), and although a score of 3 is considered passing, some schools require a 4 or 5 for you to receive college credit. </p>

<ol>
<li>No matter how good your transcript is these are very selective schools with very low admit rates, so I’d form my expectations accordingly
Cornell 16.2%
Stanford 6.6%
Brown 9.6%
Dartmouth 9.8%
Yale 6.8%</li>
</ol>

3

<p>All good points. Thanks for the information/advice!</p>

4

<p>Subject tests are a way to find any inflation in transcripts, since every school is different in level of difficulty. For example, student 1 may have a number of B’s in his math class yet score an 800 on the math subject test. Student 2 may have straight A’s in math yet score a 650. This will indicate that student 1’s math class is more rigorous. Without the subject test, student 2 would seem like the better student</p>