I am an international student from the UK hoping to apply Ivy later this year. However, I have not yet done any SAT tests and have only just realized that the EA deadline for Yale is the 1st of November. Yale is definitely the school I would most like to apply for (the school of my dreams actually, aha) but I have also realized that you cannot take the SAT and the SAT subject tests on the same date, meaning I will have to take the SAT in October and then the SAT 2’s in November, after the EA deadline. I have looked on the Yale website and they say SAT subject tests are “not required for admission, but are recommended”. Clearly if I apply EA to Yale I will not have done any subject tests by the time I apply, so my question is would they still take me seriously if I haven’t done any subject tests? Or will they think I’m lazy/a joke?
If you needed to take a subject test to get in, they would require it. You can always take the ACT early on so that you can take subject tests on another date.
@CaliCash Hi, thanks for the reply. I know you don’t need it to get in, but it does say on the website that it’s “recommended” - do you think they will look at me unfavourably if I haven’t done it? Or am I just overthinking?
Many thanks
@CaliCash Do you think it will have a significant impact on my application that I haven’t done it? Or does the fact that they don’t require them suggest that they don’t care so much?
I guess I was under the impression that doing the subject tests was some sort of unwritten rule - is this the case? Or no?
H/Y/P/S/M reject lots of qualified applicants, you will want to put together the very strongest application possible to highlight yourself. Many people do well on their SATs, so even when not required, the SAT IIs are an opportunity to further demonstrate academic mastery. Of course academic mastery alone is not sufficient for admittance, and there are many posts about people who have been accepted for other reasons.
There is no proven advantage to applying SCEA rather than RD to Yale (unless you are a recruited athlete or possibly have another hook). I applied RD to Yale after taking the SATs once in my Junior year (scored 800 M, 780 W, 750 CR) and the SAT IIs once in my Junior year (800 Math 2, 800 Chem, 800 French). And I will be attending Yale starting in the Fall.
To the OP. From research and observations of the South Africans accepted at HYPS, I’ve seen that almost all of them got near perfect scores on the SATII. Some actually haven’t performed so well on the SAT1. So I think we can conclude that for internationals the subject tests matter a lot as I believe AOs use them to gauge how close your curriculum is to American standards. Take the subject tests! Wishing you good luck! You sound like a great candidate.
SAT IIs were previously required for admissions, but are no longer (for the Class of 2020 and beyond). I think that SAT IIs are a great opportunity to demonstrate excellence in a subject area, so I’d take them if you can, but it’s not going to be a deal breaker if you cant.
Also, I’m 120% sure that November scores are fine for EA provided that you tell College Board that you want to send them to Yale when you sign up. Don’t wait until you see the scores to send them because they might not arrive in time.
So I’m a little confused. I know Yale doesn’t do score choice so you can’t send in only your “best” sat score but all sittings. Does this mean, though, that you have to send in every subject test you took? I mean that I took 3 at the end of my sophomore year, and two of them I’m ok with Yale seeing, not so much my 650 in math 2 lol. Is it allowed to send in the other 2 subjects and not Math 2?
@typeakid When you try and send your SAT Subject Test scores from your official Collegeboard account, you’ll find that you have to sent all scores from that test date, which means Yale will see all scores. However I heard they won’t hold the 650 against you since most applicants only send 2 anyway so you’re just as qualified. It likely won’t help you either though.
Yeah @sansculottes I think I’m going to send it but also take the subject test for Chem in the fall because after AP chem it looks like a no brainer. I think it really screwed me up because math 2 is like all honors algebra 2 type topics which 1. I took algebra 2 in 7th grade and have barely used it since 2. No honors type material was offered in my class. Basically know what you are signing up for
