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CCSurfer
Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:10:55 +0000

Hi Carbon,

This is kind of a small side issue, but if you look at comparison charts, your son’s ACT is enormously superior to his SAT I score. It seems as if he is a kid for whom one test is much easier than the other. Virtually every college in the country accepts the ACT instead of the SAT I, and many college don’t even require the SAT II’s if the student submits the ACT. A 32 is good enough for virtually any college or university, probably close to or well into the top 25th percentile. Given all this, my advice would be to have S retake the ACT and forget about the SAT altogether. SAT prep is time consuming, and S is already way ahead of the curve on the ACT. (32 at 15 – wow!) I’d have him retake the ACT to see if that can go any higher instead.

This advice stems from experience with one of my kids, whose first ACT was similar, and whose second was even better. Her SAT’s were strong, but not in comparison to her ACT’s. She didn’t even write her SAT Iscores on her college application (on the advice of her GC), just her ACT’s, even with application on which she wrote down her SAT II’s. The colleges could see her SAT I scores (which the College Board sends along with SAT II’s, unlike ACT scores, which allow score choice.) if they wanted to, but could also see that the ACT was all she was submitting. It worked.

Also, in our experience, EC activities outside of school are fine. If these cluster in one area, or related areas, demonstrating a deep, long-term interest, so much the better. Also, according to every college info session we attended, a job is great. And as for volunteer work, or community service, that isn’t generated by the school or a school requirement, I think that shows more initiative and independence and it’s hard to imagine that this will be a problem.