Hello,
I am an international student applying to USA colleges… I have a question!
I got 1390 in my sat and SAT Maths 2 570, SAT Chemistry 620 and SAT Bio 710.
My question is…I still have Jan test date left so should I retake the Sat subjects or Sat to improve my ‘chances’?
Based on the SAT concordance tables, your SAT score of 1390 is equal to 1970 on the old three-part SAT. That score is too low for Yale and Yale’s peer schools (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Amherst etc), so you should expect a rejection based on that score.
So, yes, you need to retake the SAT (forgot about retaking the SAT Subject tests as those are optional). You’ll need to score much higher (1520+) on the SAT to be a competitive international applicant for selective US colleges: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/higher-ed-brief-sat-concordance.pdf
@gibby Thank you for the reply so now I will take the SAT but should I send those SAT Subject scores? And I self reported them in my common app that i will take those three again in future, would that be a problem?
Well, if you self-reported the SAT Subject test scores on the Common Application, then it’s too late as Yale Admissions cannot “unsee” those scores, two of which are on the low side for Yale (the 570 and 620). At this point your SAT score is so low for Yale that I would’t worry about your SAT Subject Test scores. Officially report the 710 in BIO, but not the rest and concentrate on getting a higher SAT score. Best of luck to you!
@gibby I didn’t report the score but I reported that I will take those in future so essentially yale doesn’t know my scores unless I send them my old one…
SO I should send my bio score to all of them? Is it bad to send only one? Thank you 
I agree with Gibby. Your problem is that both your SATs and SAT2s are very low for the pool at Yale. I would advise you sit for the SAT and NOT send any SAT2s to Yale. Sending one score only highlights the fact that your 2nd and 3rd scores were not of high quality.
@T26E4 Thank you! Yeah I know they are low for many reasons, I self-studied for them and maths has always been my weakest subject, no matter how hard I try 
Okay, I will not send any SAT ll to all the schools
You need to check the specific admissions test requirements of the colleges you are applying to on their websites. Some schools require SAT II tests, some recommend SAT II tests, for others SAT II tests are completely optional or they don’t want them at all. If your goal is to attend college in the US, I sincerely hope you are casting a wider net to include schools where your SAT I score puts you squarely in the median or above median of accepted students.
@BKSquared Thanks for the info, yeah I checked and I think for most of them its recommended Would that be fine?
Yeah I am applying to colleges that might be hard to get only because I have my safeties here in Ireland, so if don’t get into these ‘hard’ schools then i won’t leave the county…I hope that makes sense
@BKSquared sorry i just checked brown and Cornell require them so what should i do now?
Yes, certain schools at Cornell do require two (2) SAT Subject test scores, so send your two best scores to Cornell & Brown (BIO & CHEM).
FWIW: Your SAT score is too low to be a competitive applicant for Cornell & Brown, so unless you can score 1520+ on the SAT in January, Admissions will place your application in the “falls below the line” pile and not pay much attention to your SAT Subject Test scores.
@gibby thank you so much, Gibby you actually saved me a ton of stress and worry! I would have taken the SAT 2 without thinking twice about it even tho at one site I read that SAT 2 counts about 5% of your app while SAT counts as 30% ( I don’t know how true these stats are but they do seem real)
@Sanazulfi sorry that I could not be more timely on the response, only just got back to the office. First, I am glad you have safeties in Ireland and are just shooting for the moon for US schools and have that level of expectation. As gibby points out, the 1390 is just not competitive absent some extreme circumstance. I have seen/known non URM, non legacy, non athletic recruits get into highly selective schools with SAT’s in the mid to high 1400’s (new scale after conversion from high 2000’s old), although the standards are likely higher for internationals since the admitted pool is even smaller. In those circumstances, the applicant also had great grades in challenging courses and had something pretty special in their EC’s. They very likely wrote memorable essays and had stellar recommendations. At this point, the only thing that is within your control is to try to pull up your SAT score and have a realistic/good attitude about your chances. Best of luck.
@BKSquared no problem! Any advice is appreciated Yeah I will definitely heed the advice given here and try to bring up my score.
PS I have been getting straight A’s in my bio and chem class at school and my GC tried to explain in her LOR that I did everything on my own, and studied on my own…so I hope they actually see this