Will any of the Ivy schools accept the ACT & Writing without taking the SAT Subject Tests?
Specific required can be found on the specific college’s admissions websites and here: http://rowlandheights.eliteprep.com/college-admissions-resources/colleges-that-require-sat-subject-tests
ACT plus writing will never be taken in place of a sat subject requirement (they are very different tests, since sat subject tests are more like AP tests - testing knowledge of specific subject areas), but I think that not all Ivy League schools require both.
You’ll have to look at each individual school’s website and see. I know Penn does accept ACT + Writing over SAT and 2 subject tests; HOWEVER, in the case of specific requirements (like say Math II for Wharton) your ACT will not replace it,
I think what the OP may really be asking is can she (or has anyone) get into Yale, Stanford, Duke, State Cornell, Penn (except Wharton), Columbia or Brown with the ACT writing and no SAT 2s. Has anyone?
I think SaphireNY is asking the right question. My son has a 35 ACT but will be taking the SAT II tests this summer and the SAT in the fall. He would probably not even take the SAT at all given his ACT score but will have to do so to get a “qualifying score” to become a NMSF (his PSAT score is high enough that he should be one). In short, do the best schools expect to see SAT & SAT II tests along with a student’s ACT?
No. If the school says they accept ACT w/W in lieu of SATs then you can take them at their word. If SAT 2s made a difference on top of that they would make them optional.
@julianstanley There are actually a bunch of schools (including a few Ivies) that accept ACT with writing in place of SAT1+SAT2. See page 14 of the pdf below:
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/54ac4119e4b0c309d02f17b4/t/54b448b7e4b02c2a2e99527e/1421101239563/fall_2013_schools_that_req_.pdf
The same information can also be found on your linked lists too. Read the “Option 1” and “Option 2” in the table on your link.
Although ACT and SAT2 are very different test, so as different subject tests in SAT2.
Ljt, check on that, I heard that they will accept an ACT score for NMF but it may just be a rumour.
Yes, that is the question, when Yale says we will accept the ACT/W for everything do they REALLY mean it.
No school will accept the ACT to certify NMF. NMF designation is done by CB. They will not use a competitors product for the verification test. Think about it.
You need to check the school’s web site to see if they require all tests to be sent. For instance Yale http://admissions.yale.edu/faq/standardized-testing#t186n1779 lets you send one set or the other but you have to send all tries made for the one you select. Stanford on the other hand requires ALL tests. http://admission.stanford.edu/application/freshman/testing.html
This is non-sensical. Why would Yale (or any school) have a hidden agenda on what really matters? They want great applicants. They want applicants to put their best foot forward. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get great applicants.
Then they filter people out who don’t fulfill one of of two either/or options for their testing requirements? That’s paranoia speaking – not logic.
For top schools that recommend SAT2, treat it as required. But when they said ACT with writing OR SAT1+SAT2, they mean it.
Yale, Columbia, Brown, and Penn take the ACT in lieu of both the SAT and subject tests. The other Ivies require subject tests whether you submit SAT or ACT. Other colleges that require subject tests with SAT but accept ACT in lieu of both SAT and subject tests are Amherst, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Duke, Haverford, McGill, Pomona, Rice, Swarthmore, Tufts, Vassar, Wellesley and Wesleyan.
“They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get great applicants.” Yes because it makes them look better to reject more people as we all know. Oh excuse me, to have more applicants. The fewer requirements, the more people apply. Cynical yes, paranoid no. Which is Yale more likely to take, someone who does the minimum? I am sure for an inner city full need student or the proverbial student from Montana, Yale may be content with just ACTWs. Is this true for the Bronx Science or Dalton full pay student?
I am asking the question, does anyone know of anyone who got into an Ivy or Ivy equivalent without submitting SAT2s?
I have personally never met anyone who was admitted to Yale or any of the others listed (with the exception of state Cornell and Tufts) with just ACTWs and no SAT2s. I am curious if anyone has. Perhaps if someone has a 36 in reading, math and science but I am just making that up.
SapphireNY: i’ve been involved with Yale admissions for +25 years. They’re not mysterious. Scores are a slim portion of “what gets someone in”.
Consider what Jeff Brenzel, former Admissions Dean of Yale said:
“At the same time, we are not particularly drawn to one-dimensional students who have made their sole or primary objective in life amassing the largest number of honors or AP courses conceivable, accompanied by multiple efforts to achieve the world’s highest test scores.”
It might surprise you to know that in vast swaths of the country, few people take the SATs and the only take the ACT. Similarly, in these areas, few people ever even TAKE the SAT2s. Believe what you wish.
@SaphireNY Yes, there are students accepted by Yale with ACT but no SAT2 scores. Read the thread yourself:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1713050-yale-class-of-2019-scea-decisions.html#latest
On Yales admission FAQ, they also say that explicitly.
It is really a simple question, do you know a middle class suburban kid without a hook from a populated area who got into an ivy with only the ACT/W? Anybody, how many? Tufts, Emory, Boston yes. Y,S, Duke? I doubt it.
Ok, I looked through the thread. There were 3, one was an athlete #9, one grew up around Yale and was already attending classes there #29 and #32 is from Michigan and organized the gay/straight alliance in a conservative enviornment (so probably had a great essay, just a theory) and is very into music which is probably more important for Yale than other HYPSM. Also Michigan while not North Dakota, is not exactly New Jersey either. Also, as I theorized above, 3 of his sections were 36. Reading through the thread made me wish I had applied SCEA instead of RD, it felt less selective and more holistic.
I am generally very curious about this. Are there other ivies that have accepted people without hooks and SAT2s?
Around a dozen of admitted students on that thread, 3 were with ACT but no SAT2 scores. You do need something spectacular other than test scores to be accepted anyway. There are plenty more with better scores and not accepted, and without SAT2 scores is not the reason.
By the way, you may search through similar threads from previous years and other schools to get a larger sampler size.
Yale adcom told a packed auditorium that ACT plus writing was perfectly acceptable
“I am generally very curious about this. Are there other ivies that have accepted people without hooks and SAT2s?”
@SaphireNY: Clearly there are, because you mentioned them in your posts. If you’re asking very specifically “Are there other ivies that have accepted straight white people from New York and New Jersey who aren’t musicians, didn’t get stellar ACTs, and who have no hooks or SAT-IIs?”…possibly there are very few, but-- this being an Ivy we’re talking about-- that’s more likely about the hooks and the abundance of applicants who inhabit that part of the pool than about the SAT-IIs.