Hello, I am a high school senior and I am applying to HMC. I attended their fly-in program (Fall FAST) on September this year but I have since then taken the SAT Subject Tests which I have found particularly challenging for the following reasons:
My school has reduced its math curriculum to bare required minimums in most cases since I enrolled, most people at my school who take SAT Subject tests have not been able to achieve higher than a 700 on any these tests. (Only one person I know in my graduating class obtained 800 on 3 subject tests, the rest have under 700 on all their subject tests).
My school only offers an Honors Physics course and AP Physics C: Mechanics (No E&M) for physics classes (which I chose as my science Subject test)
My highest scores on these tests are:
Math 2 - 760
Physics - 710
I have already taken these tests three times and, after studying very intensely, I believe I have reached my glass ceiling. Take into account that I have already got accepted to the fly-in (in which I was told that it basically meant guaranteed admission), but I wonder if my not-so-stellar scores on these tests will prevent me from getting admitted. I got a 1470 on my regular SAT and am ranked 4th in my class of 600+ for GPA. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
I think you should submit them, of course. They definitely aren’t bad scores. No telling what admissions will do anyway, but it is helpful that you went to the fly in. What is your regular SAT breakdown?
My advice is to put in the best application you possible can. Have someone proofread your essays just to make sure they are free of mistakes and easily understood. Then apply to your other schools and see what happens. It sounds like you have good stats and will have some good options. I hope you get into Mudd, but good luck with your search either way!
My regular SAT has ironically the same numbers as my subject tests haha (710 English and 760 Math). I basically had to teach myself about a third of the material for the math 2 test and about half of the material for the physics one. Honestly, even though I didn’t get the scores I would have liked, I found it to be a very satisfying experience to learn on my own. That being said I had a great experience in my time in Mudd i too hope to get in! Thank you for your advice! @intparent
You have to submit scores. They are required. It’s one component among many in your application. They are clearly not as important as your GPA, standardized test scores, and rigor of your high school curriculum. But no doubt those scores are well below the middle 50% of admitted applicants.
I know it’s irrelevant now for OP, but for future reference:
I emailed Mudd asking if I should retake my SAT subject tests because my best non math score is a 700. They responded that they look at subject tests in context of your academic record and “put considerably more weight on the Math2 result than the other fields”. They advised that I not retake my subject tests.
So my interpretation is that 700+ is competitive for all subjects other than math 2. They didn’t explicitly say that less than that isn’t competitive for math II, but the 25th/75th percentiles are 760-800.