I’m an international student applying to Harvard RD this year.
I’ve taken SAT Reasoning (W:570;M:800;R:580) total 1950, SAT Subject Math 2: 800 and Physics: 780.
I will be retaking the SAT Reasoning (assuming scoring 2100+) December and planning on taking the SAT Subject World History and Chemistry in January and ACT in February.
As Harvard accepts February ACT scores, would they consider the ACT scores (assuming they were great) as if I have sent them earlier? If so, should I change my standardized tests plan?
As Harvard doesn’t require the TOEFL, Admissions pays special attention to an international student’s SAT Writing and Critical Reading scores.
Currently your 570 and 580 indicate that you would struggle with the work load on Harvard’s campus, where some general education classes require reading 200 to 300 pages of dense material in English per week and submitting a 10 to 15 page paper on the material you have read. Before going further with your application, please look through this website and see how much you understand and can do: http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/strategies-essay-writing.
If English proficiency isn’t the issue, then you need to score at least a 700 on the Reading and Writing sections of the SAT in December. You DO NOT need to take anymore SAT Subject tests, as Harvard only requires two and the two you have are excellent. So don’t take World History or Chemistry – concentrate on your SAT or ACT scores.
Harvard accepts the ACT, but you would need to score at least a 31 on the Reading and Writing subsections of that test to prove your English proficiency. Have you taken a practice ACT? What were your Reading and Writing sub-scores?
My Dec score came out (W:630;M:800;R:660) 2090 total.
My ACT subscores were 29-28.
I was asking because I read a couple blogs and a recent post in CC suggesting that Ivy League schools prefer three subject tests: math, science and humanities and I’m quite confident in getting 750+ in the world history subject test.
I’m currently taking a gap year mostly to improve my English proficiency as my school wasn’t so great (none of classmates got over 1600 in the SAT) and I learned English mostly on my own.*
Extra question: What is the best way to mention* in the application (apart of the essay)?