<p>My D took her first SAT & ACT test in the spring of junior year with plans of taking it again in October since she did not score very well. However, due to a very busy & demanding Fall schedule, she never got to study any practice reviews and we decided to postpone the test taking to December. </p>
<p>My question is: Should she not submit any Early Applications due to her low scores and apply Regular when we get her second set of test scores? </p>
<p>Her current scores fall below the median stated in on College Board's website for her reach schools....but she wants to show these colleges she's very interested. We're hoping her leadership positions, EC's, volunteer work, current job etc...will offset the low scores. She's a "B" student filled with honors and AP classes...just not a good test taker :-(</p>
<p>I would hold off applying to reach schools EA if she thinks she can get her test scores up. EA is not like ED in that schools don´t give as much weight to interest since kids may end up elsewhere anyway. The slight EA advantage would not outweigh the benefit of higher test scores in regular decision, IMO. She can show high interest through essays, or other parts of her app.</p>
<p>I would take it one step further in stating that there is a very strong trend toward students applying EA, just so they can get answers back early, and there’s no commitment as there is in ED.</p>
<p>As a result, over the past 10-15 years, one could almost say that EA is the new RD. Hence, the EA pool has begun to mirror the RD pool.</p>
<p>Therefore, applying EA with lower-than-desired SATs/ACTs will not necessarily give your daughter any edge. She would be better off boosting those SAT scores and applying RD.</p>
<p>Good luck to her! It sounds like she’s a good student who would clearly benefit by upping those scores.</p>
<p>Are there any optional schools she might want to apply too? If not, I’d wait. My daughter also didn’t score very high last Spring and took them again in this weekend (without much prep) and will again in Nov for 3.
She is applying to 2 SAT optional schools because her grades and recs are good but they are not her 2 top choices. She is also going to apply to our state school EA because she was encouraged to by the school and admissions office to be looked at more favorably, but I don’t think that is the case in other states. Luckily their EA is Dec 1st which gives a little more wiggle-room.
Has she thought of taking the November at all? It might be nice to have 2 scores to judge from and if her schools have score choice, might give her a chance to get a feel for the test that practicing at home doesn’t.
Overall though applying RD is a good idea if she has to submit. When my daughter said she wished she could apply to more EA, I told her knowing you got in is great, but we would still have to wait for the financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Just one thing to consider. I would contact the school to see how merit aid is offered and if scores are used for all merit aid, or if there is some opportunity to get merit aid based upon leadership, community service or talent. Find out the deadlines for that type of merit aid. I say this because I was just told by one school that if one does not apply ED or EA one is not going to be considered for the larger merit aid scholarships. If merit aid relies on scores, applying EA in this situtation is not going to help anyway. If some merit aid is based upon factors other than scores and gpa, you might want to weigh the pros and cons.</p>