<p>I will be applying to Princeton early action. I currently plan on being either a psychology or molecular biology major in college with a concentration in neuroscience, although my plans could change.</p>
<p>I have to retake the SAT in October. The two subject test scores I have right now are a 730 in US History and a 740 in World History. I was planning on taking the molecular biology subject test in November and having that score sent along with the rest of my application. However, that would require a lot of self-studying. I'm in AP Bio right now, but we're obviously not going to cover all the material by November.</p>
<p>I'm pretty strong in biology, but let's say something happens and I score in the 600's. If the rest of my application is strong, is this going to negatively impact me, considering I didn't have the chance to take a full bio course? I'm a little nervous about this because I won't have time to see my score.</p>
<p>According to Princeton’s website the SCEA application must be complete by Novermber 1. Have you checked if they will accept scores from tests that were taken after the deadline?</p>
<p>Yes. It says on the website that November scores must be sent directly to Princeton.</p>
<p>Since you can take up to 3 subject tests on the same date, are there other tests (ie math) that you could take? Even if you don’t score as well on Biology, I would guess that the school will look at your two highest scores, but you might want to call them and confirm that.</p>
<p>If your application is going to be stronger in January than it will be in November, then I wouldn’t recommend applying SCEA.</p>
<p>Your chances of getting in are no higher when applying SCEA than if you apply in January. Admissions accepts those that they are fully comfortable would be accepted in the regular decision round from the SCEA pool and defers or rejects the rest. </p>
<p>The higher acceptance percentage from SCEA is illusory, because it is a different group of applicants. The SCEA pool includes some developmental applicants (generally kids of very wealthy alumni) and, more significantly, a huge portion of the recruited athletes who apply. Since the recruited athletes have been pre-screened by admissions and the coaches have been told that they have acceptable academic credentials before they apply, they have an extremely high acceptance percentage, and Princeton brings on about 220 recruited athletes per class. This skews the SCEA acceptance percentage, but doesn’t improve the chances of the non-hooked applicant.</p>
<p>It sounds like you will be in a better position to know which test scores to send in come January, so you will have a stronger application at that time. </p>
<p>Even if you plan on majoring in a bio or life sciences field, you don’t have to submit a bio SAT Subject Test. You don’t come into Princeton with a major – you only specify whether you are going to be an engineer or non-engineer. It will help to submit a science/math score in addition to your two history scores, but I wouldn’t try to self-study to learn a course you really haven’t taken as yet. It seems to me to be a real stretch for you to learn enough to have any kind of a decent score in molecular biology if you take it in November. Is there another math or science score you can submit or another math/science subject test you can take?</p>