Here is the situation. This student (current senior) took ACT in Fall of junior year and scored a 36 (actually a 36 in all sections). He also has 800 in two subject tests.
Recently, mostly because of a requirement of qualifying to National Merit Finality from Semi-Finalist status), he took SAT and scored a 1580 (780 in English and 800 in Math).
The question is: will reporting 1580 in SAT to colleges potentially help his application or should we not bother with it. Concordance tables put 1580 as equivalent to 35 in ACT, so ACT itself is better. However, there may be some consistency to be seen from SAT score or certain schools might have some built in preference for SAT scores.
(I do realize that testing is only one component of the applications and in either case, he probably will be seen very favorably within this component, but still trying to see what the best move will be).
If already reporting SAT subject tests, then reporting the SAT has no additional cost. It certainly won’t hurt the applicant, and will validate the ACT score.
Yes, report both. Way back when, DS #1 go a 1570 on the SAT and a 34 on the ACT. Only reported the SAT. Always wondered it it would have mattered if he had reported both (wouldn’t have affected his ED, but whether they might have given him $$)
Depending on the schools he is applying to, reporting an extra 1580 may not be helpful. For tippy top schools a 36.0 with two 800s is going to look better I think, as it shows the applicant is not test obsessed. For those schools its the things outside of test scores that set the applicant apart. If a student has many tests and many ECs he/she may appear too busy in the eyes of AO, and that is not a good impression to leave among thousands of similar candidates. He needs to list some outstanding ECs with credible time allocation in the common app and extra SAT test may get in the way.
My own kid was in the exact same situation this time last year, with 36.0 (36 in all four sections) and perfect SAT II scores. She sent out all test scores for college apps before she took the SAT I for NMF requirement. She had great results from tippy top schools without submitting SAT I score.
The OP explained the rationale, which is a common one that even AO knows and understands.
This is much different than the applicant that takes the SAT 3 times to improve on a 1550 or the applicant that takes 5 Subject Tests for no reason than to try to score a pair of 800’s.
Well, that should go without saying. Test scores are simply one part of the package.
Congrats to her. But as I’ve said before, the plural of anecdote is not data.
