Which scores should I send?

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<p>I have the following scores:</p>

<ul>
<li>800 lit</li>
<li>800 math 2</li>
<li>790 u.s. history</li>
<li>770 bio</li>
<li>760 chem</li>
</ul>

<p>I am likely applying as a CS or bio major. Most of my ECs relate to bio or science in general in some form. I'm thinking lit, math 2, and USH at the least, and am on the fence about bio. Thoughts?</p>

<p>Also: I briefly considered retaking bio but ultimately decided I just couldn't bear to take that test again. If I apply RD instead of SCEA I might have time to do that. I'd appreciate thoughts on this as well. I know many will say it's not necessary but it just seems that most people I know who got in had perfect scores across the board ...</p>

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<p>Umm… What about the SAT or ACT scores? As far as the subject test scores, I really don’t think it matters what you send in (but they do ask for math, so send in math II).</p>

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<p>I just have one score for the SAT - 2400 - so there wasn’t any decision to be made for that. I never took the ACT. In general my trend is that my scores are highest for the subjects that don’t have to be studied for as much - I don’t know if that will reflect on me badly.</p>

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<p>"Which scores should I send? "</p>

<p>You send the 2400 and the two 800s. </p>

<p>You seriously don’t know that? </p>

<p>You think you need to have five 800s in SAT2s? You’re believing some myths, friend.</p>

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<p>Is there a limit to the number of Subject Test scores you can send?</p>

6

<p>I would send all your scores. FWIW: Some high schools require that students not taking an AP course take the SAT Subject Test in May/June, so some students graduate with 10-12 SAT II’s and as many AP’s. If all your scores are great (anything above 700), you should consider submitting all your scores as the more positive data points, the better.</p>

7

<p>^^ I second that. Except 750 and above is generally what you should aim for with respect to the very top colleges. All of your scores look great and you don’t come off as a test-obsessed kid if you just send five 800’s.</p>

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<p>Thank you Gibby!</p>

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<p>From the same article: “It’s nice to have 760 and higher. A perfect score, in itself however, doesn’t make a difference.” The target number has been 750 and higher for some time now.</p>

<p>600’s will not help your cause! The"other credentials" would have to be not just “strong” but “unusually strong”. CC is often not a good representation of the real world but just look at the results threads for the past three years for HYPSM and see if you can find any SAT II’s low-mid 600’s in the accepted pile who aren’t uniquely hooked.</p>

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<p>@T2E64 I was also thinking of just sending the 800s, but I figured that applying as a science major (likely CS) without a science subject test might be a bigger problem than a suboptimal score … thoughts? I did get a 5 on AP Bio, which apparently only 5% of test takers got this year thanks to the revised test. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone else for the feedback! I’m pretty sure I’m sending USH and not sending Chem, so I’m just trying to figure out what I should do about Bio.</p>

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<p>Acceptances come in all shapes and sizes. If you look through last year’s SCEA decision thread many accepted students had scores between 750 and 800, while others had one, two or three SAT scores below 750. </p>

<h1>16 ACCEPTED, SAT II: BIO E 640 MI 650</h1>

<h1>17 ACCEPTED, SAT II: Math II:800 BioM: 740</h1>

<h1>19 ACCEPTED, SAT II: 800 Math II, 770 Lit, 760 Bio E, 740 USH</h1>

<h1>20 ACCEPTED, SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 US History, 780 Lit, 720 Chem</h1>

<h1>34 ACCEPTED, SAT II: US History: 720, Lit: 630, World History: 630</h1>

<h1>49 ACCEPTED, SAT II: 770 Math IIC, 760 Physics, 690 US Hist, 800 Korean (didn’t send)</h1>

<h1>53 ACCEPTED, SAT II: US History–740; Lit–620</h1>

<h1>60 ACCEPTED, SAT II: 790 Bio E, 780 Literature, 720 Spanish</h1>

<h1>73 ACCEPTED, SAT II: 650 Lit, 750 Math I (Only take)</h1>

<h1>74 ACCEPTED, SAT II: Math II/Physics - 800, Chem - 720</h1>

<p>And FWIW, having perfect or near perfect SAT II scores didn’t help these applicants</p>

<h1>12 DEFERRED, SAT II: 800 math 2, 780 chem, 780 bio e</h1>

<h1>22 DEFERRED, SAT II: Chem 800 US History 790 Math II 750</h1>

<h1>25 DEFERRED, SAT II: 800 Math IIc, 800 Physics</h1>

<h1>27 DEFERRED, SAT II: 800 Math II 800 Math I 780 Physics</h1>

<h1>32 DEFERRED, SAT II: Math II: 770, Chemistry: 780, Bio M: 790</h1>

<h1>35 DEFERRED, SAT II:Bio E 780, Math II: 800, Chem: 800, Physics: 760</h1>

<h1>37 DEFERRED, SAT II: 800 math II, 790 Chem</h1>

<h1>41 DEFERRED, SAT II: 800 Bio M, 800 Chem, 780 Math II, 780 USH, 770 French</h1>

<h1>70 DEFERRED, SAT II:Math II-800, US History-790</h1>

<h1>75 REJECTED, SAT II: 800 Math II, 790 US History</h1>

<p>So, my take away at least: it doesn’t matter what you do – submit all your scores or submit just the 800’s. Your acceptance, deferral or rejection DOES NOT depend on what scores you ultimately decide to submit.</p>

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<p>@ Gibby You’re kidding me right? You actually spent all that time going through the 2011 thread trying to refute what I wrote? Since most of your accepted scores includes two high scores I only looked at the first one that was 640 and 650. The person accepted was African American, self-descibed as poor and was 1/553 in her class!! The rest of her accomplishments were also very impressive. The only other one was #34 with two scores in the 600’s (one in the 700’s) was an Afghan girl with a very, very unique story. I remember when I first logged onto CC two years ago, I read her chance post and a veteran poster (who still posts here regularly) was extremely unkind to her to the point of being nasty and told her that she essentially had no chance. She was so gracious in her reply and said that she believed in herself and would give it her best shot anyway. I was so thrilled when I later saw she got in. I later joined CC so that I could sometimes correct what I believed to be wrong advice, even by veteran posters.</p>

<p>As for the deferrals (not rejections), we know that just having high scores is not sufficient (but AGAIN, if you are not hooked) it is usually necessary to get into the single letter schools. Many of these kids got into other great schools if they were qualified, Harvard just doesn’t have space for all of them. I am not going to go through the rest on your list to find the unique aspects of the applicants that compensated for low scores (actually, there really aren’t many others). I’m sure you have better things to do then this, Gibby.</p>

<p>What I said before I still stand by - kids should aim for 750 and above on subject tests. it DOES NOT mean they will get accepted if they achieve these scores and it also doesn’t mean that they will be rejected with lower scores but if they are submitting unhooked scores in the 600’s, their chances are greatly diminished. I’m afraid, the applicant pool is just too strong.</p>

<p>If you believe that 600’s in SAT II’s is not a detriment then that is your prerogative. Remember, this is Harvard we’re talking about.</p>

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<p>^^ @Falcon: I went through the site not to refute you, but for the OP, to demonstrate that it doesn’t matter what he or she does, as their acceptance (or deferral/rejection) will NOT be based upon the SAT II scores submitted, but on other elements in their file.</p>

<p>FWIW: I don’t believe scores in the 600’s are competitive for any selective college, but I do believe that scores from 700 to 750 are competitive, as both my kids submitted some SAT II scores in that range and were accepted to H and Y. So, based upon my kids experience, 750 is not a line-in-the-sand, but 700 is.</p>

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<p>Gibby, I am not pulling numbers out of the air - 750 and above has been the target number for SAT II’s for at least five years now. It is a goal NOT an absolute (certainly not a line in the sand). Will scores below 750 keep you out of top schools, of course not. Are perfect or near perfect scores more impressive than low 700’s - yes. If you have the time, calculate what the average SAT II score was for the accepted applicants over the last several years leaving out hooked students. If there were multiples scores reported, just count the top two. I think you will see what I mean.</p>

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<p>@Falcon1: I keep trying to put this thread back on track.</p>

<p>I think we can agree that in the OP’s case, it doesn’t matter whether s/he submits 2 SAT II’s equaling 1600 or 5 SAT II’s equalling 3920 – or anything in between. The OP’s acceptance will not be based on their SAT II scores, but other soft factors in their application.</p>

<p>EDIT: In fact, given the OP’s 2400 SAT, I would argue that submitting all their SAT II scores would make them seem more human and less of a polly perfect droid (no offense OP).</p>

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<p>Yes, I too agree that he should submit all the scores so he doesn’t look like he’s a test taking drone. Also, I do agree that the soft factors come into play now.</p>