I’m an international senior who will be applying to top schools in the US such as Stanford, MIT, Johns Hopkins, etc. for Biomedical Engineering.
In my first SAT (no studying) I got: (November 2014 - Junior Year)
READING: 710
MATH: 760
WRITING: 600
Total: 2070
My second SAT (some studying): (June 2015 - Junior Year)
READING: 680
MATH: 780
WRITING: 680
Total: 2140
SAT SuperScore: 2170
ACT (no studying): (December 2014 - Junior Year
Composite: 33
English: 34
Math: 36
Reading: 32
Science: 30
English + Writing: 31 (8 on essay)
Should I retake any of these tests? I plan on applying early to at least one college, so I would have to take the ACT on Oct. 24 and the SAT on Nov. 7 (since I’m taking math I, math II, and physics subject tests on Oct. 3).
You’re fine. Once you get a 33 on the ACT, it doesn’t matter if you improve or not. If you hot a 32, I would say yes, but 33 is like the event horizon.
I’m in a similar situation- 2160 SAT SuperScore (2 sittings) and 34 ACT (no studying, 1 sitting)… applying for engineering at MIT, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, etc. Big difference is that I’m from the US.
That being said, I’m going to take the ACT 1 more time just to see if I can improve with studying. Like arianna1012 said, there isn’t a big difference between ACT scores once you reach or break 33. I just want to improve my chances of getting more/ better scholarships.
Good luck this application season! Scores like yours will certainly put you in the category of “academically qualified” for pretty much any school. From here on out, admission is somewhat up to chance! (but more so your college essay and extracurriculars )
Given that you plan to study Biomedical Engineering, I’d try the ACT once more to try to raise your science score a bit. Your other scores are quite good, but I think getting a 32 or higher on science would help immensely, especially if schools you are applying to superscore. Moreover, I think science is one of the subtests that can most improve with practice.
Your ACT score is better than your SAT scores even after superscoring. So I don’t think you so retake SAT. Your current ACT score is within the range already, however, as you received that score without any preparation, it is likely that you may get even higher score with some preparation. The question is whether you have time to do it and what is the priority of that. For students aiming at merit aid, I would encourage them to retake ACT in situation like you. But the schools you are looking at does not offer merit aid. So I think you should move on and working on essays and other things.
Improving your scores by a few points is meaningless compared to strengthening your EC’s and having quality essays. Everyone who applies to Ivy League colleges has top scores and a top GPA. In addition to those stats, you should focus on differentiating yourself with respect to your EC’s. Be unique. Be you. Be passionate. Infuse yourself into your application. If they deny you then it just wasn’t meant to be.
The ONLY benefit to increasing further is merit scholarships at 2nd tier schools.
Getting into top tier, does not matter as much. My S was told by an Ivy he now attends,
that as long as he gets above a threshold for GPA/tests, then they use the essays/recs/etc
to decide. If you are below the threshold they will say retake the tests (if you ask).
Also note the higher your score, the less improvement expected, statistically speaking.
People who get very low scores often study and then get a much better score.
People who do very well, the level of perfection to go even higher is very very tough.
Not just studying, it’s how you feel that day, how lucky you are on the test questions that day.
SAT subject tests are what you need to study for, I would not even take
the others given your math scores on ACT/SAT.
My senior D went from about a 2200 SAT to a 2370 (1600 CR+M) in her second sitting, and 34 to 35 on the ACT, so I think you probably know how we her parents advised her. And she’s not even applying to the caliber of schools you’re talking about. What people are not saying because they don’t want to burst your bubble is that your scores are middling or even below average for an unhooked International applicant to MIT and Stanford, and your likelihood of scoring high enough on a retake to make a difference is pretty slim. (Also, Stanford wants to see all your scores.) Like everyone, even those with perfect scores, you have to look around more broadly because the chances of getting into MIT and Stanford are miniscule. Practically speaking, I would recommend taking the ACT again since you might be able to benefit from some superscoring on that and possibly avoid having to take the SAT II in some subjects.
Sorry for replying so late, but for a lot of US colleges (including MIT) the acceptance rate for international students are lower than those for native Americans. Also- I’m not sure where you’re from, but getting your scores on an exam that isn’t given in your native language would be a lot more impressive than it English indeed is your native language, But I’m assuming it is your native language given by the grammar and general sense of your post.
To me, these SAT/ACT scores look low for a male non-US citizen applying to MIT, especially if requesting financial aid.
You should consult Naviance to see the SAT/ACT/GPA credentials of previous students from your school who applied to MIT.
You should be in the same range of SAT/GPA as those students, if any, who were admitted to MIT from your school. If you are not in that range, you need to do whatever you can to get into that range. If you cannot get into that range, MIT is a reach. If no student has been admitted to MIT from your school in the past, then you need to have a stellar application.
It is well-known that admissions offices encourage students who have little chance of acceptance to apply.
The higher the number of applications, the lower the yield. Lower yields mean higher rankings. It’s a numbers game. Thousands of applications are submitted every year that have virtually no chance of success.
I’m not saying that you can’t get into MIT as a male international with SAT 2170 or ACT 33, but these scores are not especially high in this context. According to the SAT percentile ranks published by College Board for college-bound seniors in 2014, there are over 32,000 seniors who scored higher than you. I would be sure to have a good Plan B.
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