Greetings everyone, I am a high school senior currently applying for college, and my main focus is on the Universities of California and California State Universities. The main question that I have for my application process is that what test scores do I send, and HOW many can I send. I have taken the ACT 3 times so far, and once for SAT. I will be taking two more SAT tests, one on Saturday and one in December. I had talked to a school counselor for this matter, and she had told me that UCs and CSUs takes your highest test scores, and that I should just send all of them.
My main questions is that can I send both my ACT and SAT test scores? I had scored fairly decent ACT score, and will I find my current SAT scores lacking, I have taken tutoring lessons and am quite sure it’ll improve. Should I still send both ACT and SAT?
CSUs will superscore the SAT, superscore the ACT, and use the highest to plug into their eligibility index, so sending all scores assures you of getting the best possible score considered by CSU. (Or you can figure out which ones give you the best superscore and just send those if there is concern about the price of sending all scores versus just some of them.)
UCs say they want all scores and focus on the highest single sitting score, according to http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/examination-requirement/index.html . Admissions is holistic; it is not clear whether readers may be turned off by excessive test taking. Note that UCs weight GPA more heavily than SAT or ACT scores.
Some majors or divisions at UCs consider SAT subject tests: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/examination-requirement/SAT-subject-tests/ . In some cases, SAT subject tests or AP tests may be used for placement purposes after you get to college (e.g. for math, English composition, and foreign language).