<p>Okay I am going to apply to several very selective colleges (wash u, northwestern, cornell, tufts, emory, colgate, amherst among others), and my issue is this: SAT: 2150 (V 750 W 750 M 650) ACT: Composite 32 SAT II's: Math IC 620 US Hist 640 Spanishs 660 AP's (so far): US Hist 5 Spanish Lang. 4.
Obviously the issue is the SAT II's. I plan on retaking them in October, but lets assume for now that I do not improve much. Tufts and Amherst allow the ACT in place of the SAT and SAT II's and of those other schools only Cornell requires SAT II's without the ACT option (the others reccomend or have them as "optional"). What I need advice on is this: I want to send both my SAT I and ACT scores as I feel they are both very good (despite what some CC'ers think) and when broken down they balance eachother out well (did better on math and science on ACT and better on verbal and writing on SAT), I feel that colleges seeing both would really benefit me...but that means they will see my SAT II's. My first question is, 1)at Tufts and Amherst should I send both or just my ACT score? and at the others (besides Cornell which obviously require SAT II's) should I just send my ACT and or should I send both (take into account both the schools that "reccomend" them and have them as "optional")? please, help...I need it. Thanks</p>
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<p>First of all, your SAT's are fine. Many students, and yes, many applicants to the schools that you named would be very happy to have the scores that you have. Hey, when I was applying to colleges, I would have given away three toes to have your scores, both SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>Your SAT II's are lower, yes, but you also chose the two most annoying tests to take. Bio, Chem, and Math IIC are much, much more forgiving.</p>
<p>My impression is that colleges do not care all that much about these scores in the long run anyway-- they want to admit people, not scores, and it looks good for them if they get to report high scores. So even though I don't have the specific answer to your question, I would just send all of the scores in a bundle with the knowledge that they'll consider the highest scores most heavily.</p>
<p>okay, are low SAT II scores reason enough for rejection?</p>
<p>I would send it all. Your SAT I is great, and only sending the ACT doesn't do it justice. I definitely think it would be more of a bonus than your SAT IIs would be a detriment.</p>
<p>Okay so good SAT's and ACT's outweigh potentially bad SAT II's?</p>
<p>Yes, I would say that the SAT and ACT outweigh the SAT 2's, which aren't bad, just not stellar. All of your scores together make a good, strong statement. They will probably figure that you didn't have time to study for the SAT 2's and other people did. And having a 5 and a 4 in APs is good, too.</p>