Question about SAT II's.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

I am soon entering senior year. I plan to apply SCEA

I took ACT and scored 30, but taking it again in fall (practiced around 32-33). GPA is well in range.

I row competitively spring and fall. Involved in community service in another country (latin america, I am ethnically latina) for trying to diminish pollution in rivers.

I have had a few internships, learning programs around what I want to do–> that won’t be the issue

My issue is I am not low-income, however I don’t have any good (700+) SAT II’s to send. Time is running out, and crew takes up most Saturdays. Could I get away with just not sending any EA, but if I get deferred or something, I’ll try to take them again?

Advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

2

You have another opportunity to take the SAT II’s in October. You can see the upcoming test dates here: https://sat.collegeboard.org/home. I would recommend taking them again, and ideally scoring well on them, so that Harvard can see that your classes were not simply easy and the academic rigor of your classes is comparable to that of other applicants. Try to get some extracurriculars in that demonstrate your leadership ability as well as see if the SAT I is a better test for you and try that in November. November testing would still be accepted by Harvard, so time is generally not an issue for these standardized tests when applying for SCEA as long as you complete them all by November.

3

Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford no longer require SAT II Subject Tests – they are optional. Student’s applying without Subject Test scores will not be disadvantaged.

At the moment though. IMHO your ACT score of 30 is NOT strong enough for the SCEA round, and there is a huge chance your application will get buried by students who have sores of 34, 35 and 36. So I would concentrate on raising your ACT score and not worry about SAT Subject tests.

FWIW: Harvard is on record as saying that they don’t take anyone in the SCEA round that they wouldn’t take in the RD round. That’s “Admissions-speak” for we take the best of the best in the early round." Anyone who is not the “best of the best” usually gets deferred.

4

Thanks @gibby ! I am practicing for the Sept. 12th ACT and would like to only focus on them. That’s why I asked. I appreciate the advice!