<p>I really don't know what to do about this situation so I feel it will be helpful to get a parent's perspective. I am a junior in HS and have taken the SAT and ACT. I hated the SAT I did horrible on it and don't like the format. However, I also took the ACT and love the setup and the type of questions asked. It is a better fit for me and I got an okay score with no studying (will study for next test). </p>
<p>Here is the problem: My mother seems to think that the SAT will give me an advantage when applying to schools. She believes that because my brother and sister who applied 4+ years ago to colleges took the SAT and had an advantage. I have told her over and over that there is no difference but she says that I do not know what I am talking about and I am just trying to put her down because she didn't go to college when I am simply explaining to her that I have researched the subject and know a bit more on it. Also, since the ACT has gotten popular a bit more recently my brother and sister did not take it. Also many of the schools I want to apply to are on the west coast and my GC says that the ACT is more popular over there. My mother wants me to sign up for a Kaplan class when I have no intrest in taking the SAT again and I will have to take subject tests too (not needed for those who take ACT). The Kaplan lady is trying to get her to sign me up by saying west coast schools prefer the SAT over ACT (which is untrue) to get our sign up fee. This is really tearing me apart because we constantly fight about the fact that the SAT will give me an advantage which it won't because I scored and will continue to score better on the ACT.</p>
<p>Sorry this is so long but I just hope I can get some responses I really don't know what to do.</p>
<p>This subject that has been discussed endlessly on these boards. The consensus of opinion now: There is NO institutionalized bias against the ACT, no institutionalized bias in favor of the SAT. Whatever the college, whatever part of the country you live in, send the scores from the test on which you did best. (Remember though, that most colleges will not "cherry pick" your best subscores from multiple sittings to give you the highest possible ACT composite. On the other hand, you get to choose only the ACT composite you want colleges to see.)</p>
<p>Maybe you could show that thread to your mom. You could also let her know that the last SAT-only college in the country, Harvey Mudd, just announced that it will now accept the ACT. </p>
<p>Several frequent CC posters are parents whose kids submitted ACTs only and were accepted to excellent schools. Hopefully, they'll post here, too.</p>
<p>I think where the scores are better on the ACT, it is advantageous to use the ACT. My daughter had an ACT of 28, SAT of 1200/1930, and was accepted at Barnard, Chicago & NYU with submission of ACT only. If you look at the stats for colleges, you will see that for most, the score range is much wider for ACT than SAT -- meaning they seem to be willing to consider students with lower ACTs than SATs -- though its possible that the SAT spread seems narrower simply because more students submit them. </p>
<p>A second advantage of the ACTs is that most (though not all) colleges which require SAT II's will accept ACT+Writing in lieu of them -- so you have one test to submit rather than several. Also, with score choice, if you have done better on the ACTs, you can retake them and retain the option of submitting only the best score -- whereas with the SAT, even if you did better, the score report would show your weaker score as well. (Yes, colleges say they only look at the higher score..... but you never really know why they choose one kid over another ) </p>
<p>So all in all -- I would say go with the ACT. Last year at least 2 CC'ers were accepted to Yale with ACT only -- one kid is at Yale now, the other turned down Yale in favor of a full-ride scholarship at highly regarded LAC -- also based in part on that ACT score. </p>
<p>In addition to everything else, the SAT has had some embarrassing and widely reported glitches in scoring and score-reporting for the past year, and most recently there's been some publicity over the fact that they reused a test in December that was identical to a test given only a year before. So I think that the SAT reputation has been tarnished somewhat. </p>
<p>The only issue for west coast schools is that you will need SAT II's (with or without ACTs) if you apply to the University of California. But as a California resident, I personally think that UC is a raw deal for out-of-staters -- I just don't think it's worth the added out-of-state tuition. So as long as you are looking at private colleges, you should be fine.</p>
<p>yeah I feel the same way I have done this research but my mom won't listen no matter what I tell her. I am looking at mostly privates by the way because I do not want to take sat 2's because I will not score well.</p>
<p>What if you show your mom the section on the college's website that states that you can submit either the SAT or ACT and that they don't care which one? I know the UCs have a reference like this so I'm sure some other colleges do as well.</p>
<p>Yeah I have tried but it won't hurt to keep trying. I think one of the reasons may be because she wants me to stay close (new england) and I want to go to the west coast. She thinks if i dont get in anywhere over there then I won't be able to get in anywhere here because the ACT is undesireable in NE (it isn't). Now that I think about it further, this may just be a ploy to keep me in new england but i'm not sure. I have a feeling she secretly prays every night that I will not get into USC next year (she has expresed many concerns about the area that it is in.) The issue is such a problem though because we fight constantly about it. I'm going to have to show her some of these posts and websites because otherwise I will continue to be told that I am "throwing my life away" by not taking the SAT. Thank you for all the suggestions</p>
<p>Our son was accepted at Emory with a solid ACT and not so solid SAT's. Even though we did not want the college counselor to report (unofficially) his SAT scores, she did, on his transcript. I could not believe she did that but Emory only looked at his highest scores, the ACT. So proof that it does not matter, even though Emory saw all scores.</p>
<p>Your mom is showing her age. What used to be somwhat of a bias has disappeared. On this board, you'll find posts from admissions counselors at MIT, U of Virginia and other schools, all saying the same thing: ACT or SAT, it's just alphabet soup.</p>
<p>How about showing your mom a conversion chart that shows how much better your ACT scores are, and/or enlisting the aid of your school counselor? This won't be your first battle - learn to work around her objections.</p>
<p>it is in the college's own best interest to review the highest score, regardless of whether it is the ACT or SAT. There is nothing like telling the alums that 'our applicant pool was the strongest ever', at least based on test scores. If the ACT was comfortable for you, take it again, only this time with a littlle practice.</p>
<p>I haven't followed these discussions before on CC ... but now the topic has become relevant. My perspective is SAT-centric, although I know the ACT has become universally accepted.</p>
<p>Let's say that you just received really excellent ACT scores. The ACT scores are considerably higher than your predicted SAT scores (based on the PSAT and recent practice tests). Would you still take the March SAT I? Or would you skip it, rely on the ACT scores and move on take SAT II's on the May and June test dates? </p>
<p>I think the right answer is the latter ... but for someone from a traditionally SAT-focussed area, it's a hard call to make.</p>
<p>jrpar, Good question. I would say that it depends on the ACT score and the school that your DD/DS is applying to. You can take a look at the admitted students score ranges in the school's Common Data Set (CDS) or on the College Board's site. If your DS/DD's score is above the mid-range ACT scores for the school(s) s/he is applying to, I would not bother taking the SAT I, and would focus on the SAT IIs. If you want to PM me the school that s/he is applying to an his/her actual ACT scores, I would be happy to give you concrete advice.</p>
<p>Might your HS guidance counselor be willing to talk to your Mom about this? It's clear that the colleges don't care. Practice before a retake is a good idea, because my son says the ACT is heavily timed. He ran out of time on the Science section and he's usually a quick tester.</p>
<p>Much more than the SAT, the ACT measures what you know, so you could expect to score better in a later testing just because you've learned more in school (hopefully). I would say DEFINITELY go with the test you're most comfortable with and don't waste time and money on SAT prep.</p>
<p>The ACT score would be above the mid-range at all the schools on the evolving list.</p>
<p>Here's the part I'm struggling with: when you look at collegeboard for stats on how many students submit SAT or ACT at the schools, even at schools where a significant % submit ACT scores, a very high % (80-97%) of all applicants are also submitting SAT scores.</p>
<p>My son took the ACT first and neglected to include the writing part, so he had to take the SAT I. He did great on both so he sent them both.</p>
<p>In your case jrpar, with an excellent ACT in hand and a lower SAT I predicted, I would think strategically it makes more sense to study well for the SAT II's (they are more "study-able" anyway than the SAT I) and skip the SAT I.</p>
<p>Jrpar: My son is in a similar position to your kiddo. He got an excellent score on his first sitting of the ACT, and is not planning to take the SAT I. (Well, that’s not exactly true: He will eventually have to take the SAT I to confirm PSAT scores for NMF purposes. He plans to wait till next fall to do that.) We do live deep in the heart of ACT territory, so no worries about being perceived as gaming the system by skipping the SAT I. We do know many kids in our area who have been accepted to highly selective schools, including HYPS, based on ACTs. And the most recent school of thought is that no matter what part of the country you live in, you can submit ACT scores if they’re excellent/better than SAT scores. </p>
<p>But here’s something interesting: We were just at an info session at an Ivy, where the admissions rep conducting the session was asked a question about submitting ACTs in lieu of the SAT I. I was surprised by the response. Basically, she said, “If you live in a part of the country where the ACT is commonly taken, by all means submit ACT scores.” Hmm. Does a vestige of institutionalized bias remain? I think that if you don’t live in ACT-land, maybe it’s a good idea to contact colleges directly to ensure that there’s no remaining bias against the ACT.</p>
<p>wjb, thanks. That's one of my concerns. I don't want it to look like he's gaming the system. On the other hand, I'm all for minimizing the amount of time and effort devoted to the standardized testing portion of this whole process.</p>
<p>jrpar: On the subject of gaming, it's not as if your son took the SAT 2 or 3 times with disappointing results, then turned to the ACT hoping to do better. To my mind, that’s what schools might categorize as gaming. Your son’s record, on the other hand, will reflect that he took the ACT once, relatively early in the cycle, and got a good result. If a kid has done well on the ACT right out of the box, without ever having taken the SAT I, it just doesn't make sense to me for that kid -- no matter where he or she lives -- to be expected to prep for sit through the SAT I. Questions of gaming aside, it's just a bad use of a student’s time and energy, and I can’t imagine why any college would think otherwise.</p>
<p>But who knows what they really think. Opacity is a hallmark of college admissions.</p>