Is SAT preferred over ACT?

<p>I know that colleges always say they take both, but they always say "We take the SAT, but...we also take the ACT"
Would an applicant with a 1460 SAT have a better chance than another applicant with the rough equivalent score in the ACT-33? or would it vary by school-i.e. Notre Dame favors ACT while the Ivies favor SAT</p>

<p>Am i completely reaching or does anyone else wonder about this?</p>

<p>I think SAT is usually listed first because more people (at major schools at least) send their SAT scores; for example, at UPenn, 20,000 applied with SAT scores, but only a little over 1,000 sent their ACT scores. The acceptance rate for ACT applicants was the same as the rate for the entire university.</p>

<p>This has been answered countless times already. You are completely reaching. ALL colleges take the SAT and ACT equally. The last holdout accepted the ACT a couple of years ago.</p>

<p>thanks for the speedy reply guys. I have a family friend who insists that the SAT is preferred but I wasnt so sure that I believed him. im glad hes wrong considering i am much stronger in the ACT than SAT</p>

<p>They take either, they treat both the same for evaluation. For several years now, most colleges of any rank had gone to accepting either without a preference except that recently the Califoirnia Polytechnics (which are in a state where SAT is mostly the one taken) went to stating a preference for the ACT. Generally what you have is this: most in west coast states and eastern part of the country take the SAT as high school students; in most states in the middle of the country the ACT controls. Thus, west coast and eastern colleges always get more applicants submitting the SAT while colleges in the middle of the country get more ACT applicants. That geographic truth does not define a preference.</p>

<p>thanks drusba. do you know how colleges look at the ACT? do they convert it into the SAT score so it is easier to evaluate compared to the other applicants?</p>

<p>Colleges vary. Some do conversions, usually using their own conversion tables which may or may not be the same as the ones you find on-line. Example, Rose Hulman and Georgia Tech convert the math and English ACT score to a comparable math and critical reading SAT score and ignore the ACT composite, science, and reading score (yes, that is correct, those two engineering colleges ignore the science score). Many do no conversions particularly because they follow two different rules for what they do with the tests – they will superscore the SAT, meaning take your highest subscores from multiple tests to get a total score but don’t do that for the ACT and just use that ACT test with the highest composite. You should not assume they need to do any conversion to “make it easy” to compare to other applicants. They have years of experience with both tests and generally know where they want to be on either test without any need to “convert.” The fact that a college traditonally receives more SAT applicants than ACT does not mean it is ignorant of the ACT and what it is looking for.</p>

<p>Kinda dug this thread up, but, wouldn’t the SAT still be a tad better due to the ability to study for the PSAT too? Cause that test’s more recognized.</p>