<p>As Yale stated in the website that ACT w writing satisfies the admission requirement. DS is taking SAT2 to satisfy other schools’ admission requirements. He is not submitting them to Yale. My question is, how do admission officers compare kids with and without SAT2? Will he be in a disadvantage? He scored Biology E 760, taking math 2 next week, probably will get high 700. He is not taking SAT. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>You ask a great question, but I’ve never heard a satisfactory answer to it. Some colleges, like Yale, may feel the ACT’s Science Section – which really isn’t science, but is more analytical chart/graph reading, critical thinking, puzzle solving and math – gives them just as clear a picture of an applicant’s skill-set as an SAT Subject test in either science or math.</p>
<p>FWIW: Harvard just made SAT Subject tests optional, so students submitting the SAT or ACT to Harvard no longer have to submit subject tests if they don’t want to. So, maybe other colleges will follow suit and SAT Subject tests will soon be on the way out.</p>
<p>I take it at face value that Yale feels ACT w/writing is sufficient enough info for them to move to the next stage. If another student sends in SAT/SAT IIs, it’s clearly a different set of data but I’d say Yale is very comfortable extrapolating from either scenario – or mixed like you suggest. Yale would be stupid to have bias against the ACT-only submitters when they clearly work VERY hard to get great applicants from across the spectrum. </p>
<p>I don’t this there’s any advantage in this area with various test combos. That’s what makes sense to me, out in the field, at least. Good luck</p>
<p>If you look at the C9 Data on Yale’s Common Data set: <a href=“http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/CDS2013_2014.pdf”>http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/CDS2013_2014.pdf</a></p>
<p>Percent submitting SAT scores = 81%<br>
Percent submitting ACT scores = 35%</p>
<p>Clearly there’s an overlap of students submitting both ACT and SAT scores, but 19% of Yale’s admitted students DID NOT submit SAT scores (and presumably the SAT Subjects tests as well) and just submitted an ACT w/writing. So, Yale clearly admits many students just on the basis of the ACT. So, as T26E4 commented, ACT only submitters are NOT at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>An explanation for why so many who apply to Yale (81%) are submitting the SAT is that some of its Ivy peers REQUIRE SAT IIs and ACT alone isn’t sufficient. Thus, they tend to take the SAT too, just to be ready to apply to those other schools. Certainly, it’s not a shock that people who apply to Y will also apply to some of those others. If others take H’s stance on dropping the SATII requirement, I suspect the ACT only crowd will only increase.</p>
<p>ACT is more popular here in the south. DS’s school doesn’t even talk about SAT. So we are not getting much advice here. Browsing through CC, seems like EVERYONE is taking SAT2. I just want some assurance that he is not missing anything. I haven’t heard about Harvard dropping SAT2, but that’s a welcoming news.</p>
<p>“Browsing through CC, seems like EVERYONE is taking SAT2. I just want some assurance that he is not missing anything.”</p>
<p>Because you get a concentration of kids who want to apply to the handful of schools that require the SAT2. My home state emphasized the ACT. CC is NOT typical by any stretch of the imagination – conversely, can be a good source of info esp. when home schools are lacking (e.g. SAT2s)</p>
<p>Back in my day the SAT2s were called “Achievement Tests” and only a handful of schools required them.</p>
<p>To become a national merit finalist, you have to take the SAT and pass with a certain score.
I would imagine that many Yale applicants are also national merit semi-finalists, so you would expect them to take the SAT, even if they’ve already taken the ACT. If they do well enough, you would also expect them to submit both scores.</p>