Background: For a HS junior interested in T20 schools. 4.0 UW, double digit APs, class rank near the top of large public HS. Good ECs.
Questions: (1) student has a 1530 SAT and 34 ACT. Is one better than the other and should student submit both or just one?
(2) should student try to retake either SAT or ACT to raise their score?
Fine not to retake. What I found this year from DD22’s competitive public was that it was ECs and essays that got one in.
I would spend the time doing more stuff for ECs to make the student “spike”!
According to the the concordance tables, the SAT score is slightly higher.
Overall, probably not worth re-taking. Is the student “hooked”, meaning are they in a favored admission group? This would be an underrepresented minority (Black, Hispanic, Native American or Pacific Islander), the child of a wealthy donor, a recruited athlete, come from a geographically under-represented state (like Idaho), from a poor background and first gen to college, or possibly a legacy? Then those scores are good enough, and if the rest of the application is as you say, they might have a good chance.
Does this student have a “spike”, meaning extraordinary achievement at the national or international level in something that either the college wants (already publishing scientific research in Cell or Nature, or dances with a big city ballet company, or is an Olympic athlete in a sport that isn’t a recruited athlete sport, or won international level music competitions, that sort of level of achievement)? Then it is likely that with the caliber of the rest of the application, they have a chance at acceptance, and they don’t need to retake the SAT or the ACT.
Is your child all that you say, but has neither a “hook” nor a “spike”? Then a 1600 or 36 will do no more to get them admitted to a top school than the 1530/34 that they already have. They should probably submit the score that looks higher percentile, shows a better score in the discipline that they intend to study, or doesn’t show a serious deficiency. The only exception to this that I would make is if your student did much worse on the science section of the ACT than the other sections. The reason that I say this is that the science section is not about science. It’s about data interpretation, and a little prep by doing old ACT science sections would familiarize the student with the charts and graphs that they use, so that a student of this caliber could likely bring that subsection up to a 36 with just a bit of self-prep.
Your student’s time is best spent at this point on trying to bring an EC up to appear to be on the national level, essays, and choosing safety and match schools. T20s were a crapshoot this year for anyone who wasn’t hooked or spiky - many students with top grades, perfect scores, a string of AP 5s, captain of varsity sport, accomplished musician, etc etc etc didn’t get into ANY T20 schools and are going to their safety or a match, if they’re lucky.
Not hooked and no major spike.
Try to make a spike. A spike can be something super local that ties in with your student’s interests.
How’s your state’s flagship U? I don’t mean this facetiously.
What is his strongest EC interest? His strongest academic interest?
State flagship is very good (top 75) and will be a good match. A great option if no reaches work out.
Wonderful. He’s got a great safety. Does he have any very strong academic interest or EC that could be worked up into a decent “spike”?
One more attempt wouldn’t hurt
Submit both since you have them. 1530 SAT is better than an ACT 34, even beyond concordance tables. Your student is in the game for T20s, but it’s unlikely that a few more points on the SAT/ACT will move that needle. It will be about other things.
@DadSays would you mind explaining what you meant by “even beyond concordance tables”? Do you think that the SAT is valued more by AOs?
My junior (4.0 UW, IB Dip, rigor, no hook, interesting “spike-ish” thing) got SAT scores back yesterday (1520 - 740 English, 780 Math) and is debating whether to retake in August. She will apply as liberal arts (non math/non science) major to several reach schools (will pick an ED1 and ED2) with admit rates between 10-25% and others between 25-50%. Has a bunch of regular decision likely schools too. Thanks!
There are probably some AOs on this site who could answer this directly. Most schools say they don’t care which test is submitted.
From what I’ve been led to understand from a former AO at a T5, the AOs want to see that the student has done well (by their standards) on whatever test they chose to submit. But, the ACT and SAT are not viewed equally.
I think that in this era of test optional, and less emphasis placed on the SAT or ACT, that an ACT of 34 or higher, or an SAT of 1500 or higher, puts an applicant into the “good enough” range on the standardized test. It doesn’t really matter beyond that, in most situations - they’re then looking at the rest of the application. At schools where test scores aren’t required, I really don’t think that anyone who submits a score at or above that range is going to be not admitted on the basis of the score.