Send SAT vs. ACT to UC system

Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>My daughter's SAT/ACT scores are not excellent (see below). She is applying to UC system for a biz major.</p>

<p>(1) Does she have a chance to get in (excluding top - UCLA and Berkely, Low- Riverside and Merced)?</p>

<p>(2) Which score should she send to (SAT, ACT test 1, or ACT test 2)? I was told UC does not take mixed scores across different settings (ACT in our case).</p>

<p>(3) What about Cal Poly?</p>

<p>(4) What other safe colleges she should consider as a backup? </p>

<p>SAT - 1730 (math 650, reading 500, writing 580)
ACT test 1 - 27 (English 31, Math 27, Reading 27, Science 23)
ACT test 2 -27 (English 29, Math 31, Reading 22, Science 26)</p>

<p>GPA (weighted) - 4.08
CA resident
Two AP classes each year in 10, 11, 12
No outstanding extracurricular...</p>

<p>Thanks !</p>

2

<p>Forgot to mention SAT Subject Test scores
Math II - 670
Foreign Language - 770
No AP exams</p>

3

<p>well, since 2 SAT II scores are required for UC admission, the SAT I score'll be seen by the adcoms anyways =[ something to consider.</p>

<p>send both; pick an ACT test. it cant hurt</p>

4

<p>You are right, SAT I will be seen anyway. </p>

<p>Also, as a CA resident (west coast, most people take SAT), if she does not fill in SAT score in the application form (purposely), will UC people doubt why (maybe you get bad score on SAT) even though they still can see all SAT I and II scores? Is that another reason she should fill in both SAT and ACT scores?</p>

5

<p>Actually, for the UCs you really don't need to send scores to most campuses until you are accepted. They pretty much read apps on the self-scores reported. Now, if you retake in December, those scores should be sent.</p>

<p>With a UC gpa in excess of 3.4, she is guaranteed acceptance to at least one UC campus. It might be Merced or Riverside, but she' will get in (as long as you pay the $60). </p>

<p>Her gpa is also competitive for Cal Poly, depending on the major. But, Cal Poly is extremely competitive, so one never knows. Cal Poly does not mix & match ACT scores either. </p>

<p>UC uses its own SAT-ACT concordance table, and for that you will need the ACT-W score. I'm guessing ACT-1 will result in a higher UC point score since the English was higher and that is 2/3rds of the ACT-W score. But, use the formula with your D's numbers to verify which is higher.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>What will help your daughter is her UC GPA of 4.08. Her test scores are not high, but it will not hurt for her to send all her test results. The UCs use the table "bluebayou" has referenced above. To determine her which of her ACT results work best, you will need to know the combined English/Writing score (you don't mention this). UC gives this score 1/3 weight + 2/3 (Math, Reading/Science). So, for the UCs, the ACT composite is not the important number.</p>

<p>More importantly, if your daughter wants to attend a UC in a business major, there aare 3 UCs with full-fledged undergraduate business schools: Berkeley, Irvine and Riverside. She should definitely apply to Irvine and Riverside. Merced also has an attractive major in Management in its School of Social Sciences. The others offer something called Business Economics which is really Economics with Accounting courses.</p>

7

<p>Stnfrdstd mentioned 3 UC schools have the "real" undergraduate biz major. My D definitely will apply to Irvine, but she has a concern with Riverside. BTW, she received a letter from Riverside that mentions she is gauranteed for admission last week. Overall, the school is not good. Any thoughts?</p>