<p>Either test is accepted without preference. There is this belief among high school students in the east that the SAT must be preferred. There is this belief among high school students in midwest states that the ACT is preferred. Those beliefs are formed mainly by tthe test usually taken and promoted in high schools in their state. Particularly for high ranked universities those beliefs have no basis in fact anymore including because they tend to misunderstand the role of test scores. Admission personnel don’t sit around discussing whether a 2400 SAT is better or worse than a 36 ACT. If you have high scores in either, it just means you possess one factor usually needed for admission with a more important factor being grades and course difficulty. </p>
<p>Mentioned above by Krieg01 is being told by Cal Poly SLO that the ACT is preferred. That is not a situation of someone at the school providing any information contrary to a stated position. Cal Poly PLO’s stated position in its admission matrerials provided publicly on its site is that the ACT is preferred pver the SAT (a preference that began about 7 years ago). It is the only college of any rank I am aware of that still states a preference.</p>