<p>My question is, if you consider that I have great ec's and a great transcript with straight A's all through high school with quite a few AP's with good scores, should I try to take the ACT to replace both the SAT and the subject tests, or are they good enough? I feel they are definitely the weakest part of my application, but are they so bad that they would have a significant negative impact on my application? </p>
<p>Now I know the admissions process is a total crapshoot, etc etc, but just try to answer the best you can, please. Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>Both my children did better in ACT’s (D 29, S 34) than SAT’s and found them easier. It can’s hurt to take it - but make sure you have great EC’s!</p>
<p>I’m in a similar boat. I took the ACT and got a 31 both times. It was recommended to me that you focus on a single test and maybe take the other if you have time. Preparing for one also helps prepare you for the other, so there’s that. I suggest retaking the SAT</p>
<p>ACT is “fairer.” The SAT is, IMO, the poorest way to actually test for competence.
It doesn’t hurt to try to take the ACT if you have the time and means.</p>
<p>Abudhabi-mama: my sister had similar experiences with doing better on the ACT so is telling me to try it. Also, my EC’s I’d say are probably my strongest asset of my application, so I feel good there. Thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>Wrightm: I see what you mean of focusing on one test but I wouldn’t have time to retake both the SAT and the subject tests, right? October is the earliest test date if I remember. Plus, I feel my subject tests would go down since I’ve had the summer for the material to lose it’s freshness that’s why I was thinking ACT as a way to get it all done at once. Thanks for the suggestion though, I’m still thinking about it.</p>
<p>Drbigboyjoe9505: I have been told that before, thanks for reminding me. I’ve gotten a few ACT books from the library so I’ll take a practice test and see how it goes.</p>
<p>But overall, you guys think a 2170 and mediocre subject tests are worth trying to replace considering all else is strong?</p>
<p>If your ECs are as good as you make them out to be, I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting in if Yale wants you. As such, you honestly shouldn’t consider wasting your time studying for a completely new test when you could be spending that time crafting your essays or improving your ECs even more. </p>
<p>You’re clearly competent handling college level coursework with a 2170, and I’m sure Yale would understand that.</p>
<p>Not sure what your ECs are but those test scores are on the low end of Yale’s range. If an admissions officer likes your application, however, your scores don’t indicate you would definitely struggle at yale. GPA is important, but you have to take it in context with the rest of your school and how academically competitive your school is, but again it doesn’t indicate you would struggle. I wouldn’t list any AP tests withe scores less than a 5. I would definitely take the ACT for the reasons mentioned above. My friend got a 2090 on the SAT at a 35 on the ACT and he was definitely deserving of the 35. I would say a 2250+ and 34+ put you in the “safe zone” for HYPS. You are likely going to have to submit both ACT and SAT because you cannot “fairly” send in your SAT II scores without your SAT and I would definitely not go with the just ACT route. Best of luck next year.</p>
<p>Colleges seem to prefer the SAT over the ACT, so unless you’re VERY confident about the rest of your application you should retake the SAT for a 2300 (2250 is still likely to get you deferred)</p>
<p>beatitudo: you would know more than I why your son got in, but getting a 35 on the ACT wasn’t it. Something else differentiated him from the rest of the applicants. No one gets in on one standardized test score.</p>
<p>High scores on SAT tests and AP tests (though only the former are officially recognized in application decisions) show depth in subjects on a known standard. The ACT is a better test than the SAT, but it still doesn’t give the information that the SATIIs give.</p>
<p>^Orange, I didn’t mean to suggest that his ACT score is what got him in, but rather that it didn’t seem to hurt him to submit only the ACT. It goes without saying that high test scores alone - whether they’re in the SAT or the ACT - won’t get you admitted. I was responding to your statement that you would “definitely” not submit the ACTs only. Obviously it didn’t hurt my son to have done so, but of course he had other strengths aside from his standardized test scores. If OP were to do better on the ACT that the SAT, I see no reason why he/she shouldn’t feel comfortable sending in the ACT scores alone.</p>
<p>^^ If Yale didn’t want for students to only send ACT scores, they would say so. If they so wanted “the information that SAT IIs give,” then they’d clearly follow what their peer institutions do and require SAT IIs along with the ACT. Plus, in general, nobody gets in on only test scores. The number of tests you send in won’t make a difference in that.</p>
<p>beatitudo: Realistically, it might have hurt your son to only submit the ACT, but he might have been so strong in some other area or his academic prowess was shown in some other way that the extra SATII tests were unnecessary for the committee to make their decision. When it comes down to it, you are put in the accepted, waitlisted, or rejected pile and each group is officially not subranked.</p>
<p>Without knowing the OP, his other scores don’t show major academic prowess, regardless of GPA which could be highly inflated at his school. Given the OP’s yale-relatively low SAT and SATII scores, it might make sense for him to just submit the ACT, but he would have to get a very high score on it like your son. Assuming he got a 32 or 33 (the 2170 equivalent of the SAT), just submitting that, IMO, would leave him worse off than submitting everything.</p>
<p>OP: Yes those scores will hurt you majorly. Take the ACT and hope for the best. Nail yours essays. People with worse scores (who are not athletes/legacies/URMs) have gotten in.</p>
that’s why I was thinking ACT as a way to get it all done at once. Thanks for the suggestion though, I’m still thinking about it.</p>