<p>omedog, best thing u can do is check websites for each school u are interested in. I believe if you take ACT with writing at yale, u do not need to take subject tests. If you take SAT for Yale, u need to take 2 subject tests. I’ve heard Harvard requires 3 subject tests but have not looked into it much. For USC, subjects tests are recomended if you want a scholarship but are not required. please doublecheck everything I say though. My general impression is SAT or ACT is fine at most schools, the higher the school ranking and whether you want merit aid can make the subject tests a wise move on top of SAT. It also seems that if you take the ACT plus writing component, you may not have to take subject tests. </p>
<p>Bluebayou, thanks for the candid advice. My kid seems to be leaning towards big schools in big cities. We know the 2130 knocks them out of Ivy league contention and kiddo is ok, albeit somewhat disappointed with that. They were leaning against most of the Ivies even before they got their scores and in the case of one of the Ivies, although they liked it, they preferred the huge state school that was close by. For the most part, they are not that concerned about whether the school is Ivy, highly selective, etc. They are more interested in the feel of a school and a city and is this a place that they want to spend 4 years of their life. They are also very conscientious about keeping costs down. For many of the schools they are interested in, they are on track for at least partial scholarships and one they are on track for full tuition. So they are in very good shape even without ACT. I will talk over with them once they’ve had a chance to enjoy their summer some(school ran late this year so they just started summer recently) that they really should take ACT. They’re wise enough to follow everyone’s wonderful advice on here so I’m sure they will take ACT in either Sept or October. We’re visiting USC soon so they can make a judgment call after seeing the campus about how badly they want to go there. If they want it enough, they will be motivated enough to do whatever it takes. And prior to the PSAT, our plan was to start off at a community college and hope to God they could transfer to USC at some point. We also discussed them working full time and waiting 2 years to start college. So coming from that starting point, when we got the PSAT scores I am thrilled they have a lot more options now and they are very happy they will be able to start college and their dreams sooner than they expected.</p>