What to do about SATs

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>My SATs from October somehow never made it to Yale…they’re not on the Eli website at least.</p>

<p>yeah, the ones that raise my overall score from a 2200 to a 2370. It’s pretty important. </p>

<p>So i guess I was wondering:</p>

<li><p>if anyone else has this problem or any problem with stuff that you know was sent not showing up on the website</p></li>
<li><p>what I should do. I contacted Collegeboard and they definitely sent my scores out to Yale and a bunch of other colleges on Nov. 2 but it’s been 4 weeks now and they’re not on the website.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I guess I’m most afraid that they have already made a decision and that I would get flat-out rejected. My ACT was a 35 and the subject tests that were sent (3 of them- Math II, Chem, Bio-M) were 790’s. I did put on the common application that I was taking the SATs in October, but I sent the Common app in during late September, so I obviously didn’t have the scores yet. </p>

<p>I guess at least, seeing the ACTs and subject tests, they might defer me and that would give me plenty of time to resend the scores, but I’m really not sure how much of an impact this will have on my decision. I’m pretty much covered elsewhere around the board, 1st in my class, highest or 2nd highest GPA in school history (a fairly competitive public school that sends only a valedictorian every two or three years to Yale pretty consistently), SAC president, Forensics speech/debate president, leader of this and that…etc. not that this AT ALL means I would get in if my SATs showed up.</p>

2

<p>I would call the Admissions Office immediately.</p>

3

<p>That happened to me as well..</p>

<p>do you know if what the number is, cus the only number i have keeps sending me to dumb automated responses</p>

4

<p>that's my problem. Yale will not accept any direct contact for whatever reason. </p>

<p>(PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CONTACTED YALE DIRECTLY ABOUT INDIVIDUAL INQUIRIES, AND HOW YOU WENT ABOUT DOING SO)</p>

<p>I guess it's because of the 4,820 SCEA applicants...come to think of it. But it's a double bind, since Yale must be at fault but I really can't do anything to solve the problem. My guidance counselor recommended sending a copy of the mailed student score report plus a letter verifying it, but I'm not sure what this could do.</p>

5

<p>First of all, with a 35 ACT I don't think your SATs really matter. They'll consider the one you did better with. Second, for the candidates who make it to committee (the ones they discuss who aren't obvious rejects), committee hasn't started meeting yet. </p>

<p>If you really want them to see your new SAT (and I reiterate that I don't think it will make any difference given your ACT), I'd follow your counselor's advice and attach a short cover letter explaining the problem. One down side of this is that it makes you look super uptight and might make you seem too high anxiety to be admitted. I'm not saying that this is what they will actually think, but it's a possibility to consider.</p>

6

<p>My sense is that the upward change in your score would justify you doing as your counselor says, and that they would not think the worse of you for it - it's an appreciable difference, and any admissions officer with a heart (I think that's most of them!) would understand why you care enough to make sure they see it.</p>

7

<p>thank you all...I will consider everything you have said.</p>

8

<p>phantonJ88: Why don't you have guidance call Yale for you? I would believe that they would take the call from a guidance department, before a student....IMO it won't make a difference given the 35 ACT but you don't want to be 2nd guessing yourself for the rest of the year.......(Also, you may want to make sure the the 2nd SAT was received at the rest of the schools you have already applied to, just in case they start reading RD applications early.....)</p>

9

<p>You do realize on the collegeboard's concordance table your 35 ACT is a 2380, don't you? </p>

<p>That being said, why not have the counselor send the letter? That wouldn't be direct contact, would it? ;)</p>

<p>BTW my D was accepted with a 35, no SAT's at all, no SAT Subject Tests either and that was in the 7.5% RD year. On standardized testing, I think you already have it covered.</p>

10

<p>I concur with everyone else: your ACT is better than your SAT1, so don't worry. The more important issue is whether they received your SAT2s. If they were sent earlier and Yale says they have them, I wouldn't worry about it. You can chase them down if you are deferred and want a reason to contact admissions and reiterate you interest.</p>

11

<p>I actually had my guidance counselor call the admissions office today, and we talked to a representative. Apparently the mistake came in when I wrote "Jon" instead of "Jonathan" on my October SATs...they had two separate files, one for Jon and one for Jonathan. even though collegeboard and every other school recognized those two names as the same thing.</p>

<p>i realize that the 35 ACT will carry me through, and yes they did get my SAT IIs (apparently my SATs [both 1 and 2] were attached to my transcript, but when my transcript was sent out, I hadn't taken the October test yet). As rodney said, I would not want to be second guessing myself on two fronts- first of all if i could have been in the application pile that was really iffy but the SATs pushed them to reject me because there was no consistency between ACTs and SATs, and secondly if my SATs weren't there to help push me into the accept pile, because they ended up being quite high. I'll post my stats here too to see if anyone thinks it will make a difference- they're already on another thread.</p>

<p>but in the end, i'm probably just obsessing like usual. i just don't want something this silly to hurt my chances of getting in anywhere.</p>

12

<p>Info:
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian; Jewish
Location: northern NJ
Rank: 1/316
Grades: 4.0 unweighted, 4.836 weighted (2nd highest ever in my school?)
SAT II's: 790/790/790, chem, math IIC, bio
SAT I: 800 Math/740 Writing/660 Reading=2200
SAT I: 660 Math/800 Writing/770 Reading= 2230
ACT: 35</p>

<p>Senior classes: I've taken almost all the AP classes that my school offers that fit into my schedule. 1 soph year (Bio- 5), 5 Junior year (Spanish- did not take AP, Chem- 5, AP Calc AB- 5, AP English language- 4, AP US- 5)</p>

<p>EC:</p>

<p>Pathways for Exceptional Children (I've been in this for like 6 years; president of lead mentors [11th], treasurer of lead mentors [12th]): a local organization that helps kids with special needs and their families. We have spoken at state-wide conferences, changed our community, and are working on a social change project to spread our small-ish organization throughout NJ and hopefully even further. We're talking to the governor and stuff like that too. I'm a lead mentor, which means in charge of all the mentors throughout NJ. I have also put in approximately 50-60 hours of community service per year through this.</p>

<p>Forensics Speech/Debate (9th-12th): 2nd in JV Lincoln Douglas @ states, attended CFL nationals in extemporaneous speaking. Treasurer 11th, president 12th. lots of local wins at tournaments. Degree of Superior Distinction (highest on my team) with 885 pts. (as of 6/07; it will be much higher later this year). Academic All-American award.</p>

<p>Student Activities Council/class council (10th-12th): class treasurer (10th), SAC VP (11th), SAC president (12th). SAC president does morning announcements, plans our school's traditional activities, and represents the school at two board of education meetings a month.</p>

<p>Orchestra (9th-12th): Violin (9th; I sucked), Contrabass (10th-12th). Advanced orchestra in 10th. played contrabass in school musical. currently taking an independent study to learn even more. but i've played piano for 12 years, so it's more learning techniques than theory.</p>

<p>FBLA (9th-12th): treasurer (11th+12th). various state awards. A lot of time put in to do treasurer stuff.</p>

<p>Science club (9th-12th): Science league (9th-12th)- top 10% in the state in Earth Science. Participated in bio II, chem, etc. Science olympiad- various awards at regionals/states.</p>

<p>international concerns club (10th-12th): sending letters to countries to beg them to show amnesty to people. no leadership, i've just been in it for a few years.</p>

<p>Peers as Listeners (11th-12th): an organization that spends a couple hours a week for seniors only that helps freshmen adjust to the school. Various workshops, etc. a lot of trips, a lot of leadership stuff learned.</p>

<p>Awards:
academic all-american (forensics)
an essay contest
Nat'l merit semifinalist (so far...)
AP Scholar w/ distinction
principal's UPenn book award</p>

<p>Summers:</p>

<p>'06: program in molecular biology at Columbia for 3 weeks</p>

<p>'07: worked two jobs, 15 hour days. camp counselor, busboy at a local restaurant.</p>

13

<p>the SATs that did not get there are the second ones. every school i'm applying to takes the best of each section, so it'll look like 2370.</p>

<p>and for some reason i forgot to write my schedule this year. i have 5 aps (English lit., calc BC, econ. [we do micro/macro in one year], physics C, research/molecular biology- this is counted for college credit if we do well enough on a midterm/final at Rutgers or something, so it's given the AP title even though there's no AP test)</p>