I’m currently a junior in high school and have recently been looking into Yale. For some background on my situation: I’m white, female, ranked first in my class of 300, I will have taken 10 APs by the time I graduate (took one sophomore year, APUSH, and got a 5–hopefully I’ll make a habit of that on the next few exams), I got a 233 on my PSAT (80 writing, 77 CR, 76 math–I made a really stupid mistake on my math, would’ve been an 80 otherwise…) but I won’t take the SAT until March (though I will hopefully score a 2330 or above), I founded the only a Cappella group my school has, I have been in a chorus outside of school for 10 years, I have had leads in the school musical, etc., I have some community service, and will likely get an internship in politics over the summer (have done JHU’s CTY intensive studies for three summers).
I know that Yale requires applicants to send in all SAT scores or all ACT scores. For subject tests I got a 770 USH, 750 Lit, 690 Math 1 (ughhh… I’m planning on taking Math 2 this year and hopefully getting at least a 750, but we’ll see), and a 660 Bio (honestly cannot recall if this was E or M, I idiotically took it freshman year after just a regular honors bio class). I am wondering if these two <700 SAT subject test scores will significantly bring down my chances of getting in to a college like Yale. Does it seem like it would be best just to take the ACT and not have to send in any SAT scores at all?
You only need to send 2 SAT subject tests to Yale or the ACT with writing. When we attended Yale briefing in Chicago the admissions officer said they would be perfectly fine with ACT with writing instead of both SATs. If you do score 2330 this is so strong that weaker subject tests are not the liability they would otherwise be. Oddly average scores for Math 1 test are quite a bit lower than Math 2 test. Given your very strong PSAT. I’d suggest you take both SAT and ACT and see what you end up with. About 30 top colleges require SAT subject tests and if these 39 about half will accept ACT with writing in lieu of subject tests. My guess is you will apply to other highly competitive colleges in addition to Yale so it is best to have a set of subject tests you can use with “7” as leading digit.
They’ll take your 2 highest subject tests so no worries if some are below 700 since you already have 2 very high scores. You should take both the SAT and the ACT, clearly you have a chance to do very well on both. Hopefully for you your testing will be finished by the end of the year!
@oddsbeater, if you send SATs, by my reading you would have to send them all. Otoh, they will be interpreted in a favorable light. And, while you have two that don’t start with a 7, they are close.
If you kill the ACT, that’s great. If not, no worries.
I would not fret about this. As you undoubtedly know, many wonderful candidates are denied acceptance every year. Your Subject tests will not be the reason. Good luck.
Great PSAT, you should do well on the SAT and get it behind you this spring.
You will have to send all of your subject tests to Yale (unless you only send the ACT but seems a shame to even take it if you kill the SATs). But if you can get a couple of 700+ ones, it will dilute out the lower ones. I also suggest taking the Math2 test as it looks more impressive than the Math1.