Hi! I’m currently a junior and I have some questions about SAT subject tests. Most of the school’s I have been looking at require or highly reccomend them. I’ve already scored pretty well on the ACT (34), but I haven’t taken any subject tests. For top 20-30 schools, would scoring badly (high 600’s-low 700’s) hurt my chances even with a relatively strong GPA and ACT? Thanks!
With a good ACT I suspect as long as your SAT subject test scores were in the 700s it wouldn’t matter too much - SAT subject tests are worth so much less in the admissions process. It also depends which subjects you do them in, because scoring percentiles differ
IMO, no it doesn’t. It is also important to understand that for several subjects, the percentiles are depressed because so few colleges request Subject Tests, that the one that do are the ultra selective ones. As a result, it is the high achieving kids taking the tests. No AO is sitting on the floor cross-referencing scores with percentiles.
Anyway, back to the OP. For starters, scoring in the low 700’s is not “scoring badly,” and saying so strikes me as disingenuous. Additionally, since you have not taken any subject tests, I would not suggest worrying about things that may not happen.
My son had the same question as you a while ago, so he called Northwestern admissions - which indicates that “SAT IIs are recommended, not required” - was told that SAT IIs were for those students that wanted to show a competency in an area that grades and other testing did not reveal. Since son had 4.0 GPA and all 5s on his APs he did not take any SAT IIs and was an ED Admit.
However, as you know, anecdotal stories are not evidence, so I suggest that you call each admissions dept and ask them the question. Why mess around with an anonymous message board when you can go to the source?
I got a 34 on my ACT and 1530 on my SAT with no SAT IIs, and I was also admitted ED to Northwestern.
@skilletfaith do you have any tips for admission? What were your grades, EC’s, AP scores, essays, and recs like?
hey i also got into Northwestern ED this year (with a ~10%drop in their acceptance rate) with only one SAT 2 subject test (they highly recommend 2)… i can PM u my resume, stats, etc if you want!
@jaecha That would be great! Thanks!
Subject tests are also used to make sure your grades aren’t inflated. If a kid with a 99 average in APUSH gets a 580 on the US History subject test, that might be a problem.