I just got my results for my ACT back, with 35 Math/35 Science/36 ELA/36 Reading = 36 Composite on my first try, no studying. But now I’m worried about smth else… For reference, my super score SAT after 3 tries is 760 ELA + 780 Math (English is not my first language). Applying to several T10 schools.
Questions:
Do colleges look at the ACT and SAT differently? Like is there a bias towards the SAT?
Should I retake the SAT (I had issues each time so far [jetlagged once, paper issues once, laptop died once]), for a total of 4 takes but a better score? Worried about the 1 time ACT vs. 4 times SAT.
Which test should I submit? (ACT only, SAT only, Retake SAT then see, submit both)
I agree with @Lindagaf. Your ACT score is superb, and your SAT score is also superb. 760 on the reading/English part of it is remarkable for someone who does not have English as their first language, and would be in fact very good for someone who is a native English speaker. The same could be said for your ACT scores.
When I took a moderately deep dive into the CDS data available on this issue, it appeared if anything that highly selective coastal colleges tended to be a bit more generous on the ACT side. But as others pointed out, this could just be because they are trying to achieve more regional balance, and the ACT is often more popular in regions relatively underrepresented at coastal colleges. In which case it would not actually matter which test you took, just where you were applying from.
In any event, I for sure don’t think the ACT is worse for admissions at these colleges than the SAT. But I suspect they mean it when they say it really doesn’t matter which you submit.
Just want to underscore this. My (native English-speaking) kid took the September ACT and got a 35 on English with 3 questions wrong. So that means OP got 0-2 questions wrong out of 75 on the English section. Really impressive.
The answer will not change. You are done. Finis. Fin. Hotovy. Klaar. Acobado. Gotov. The End.
There is not one college on the planet that will be anything other than thrilled with your stats. There is no need to assume that ANY college favors one test over another. That may have been true decades ago. It is not true now and hasn’t been for many, many, many years. So please don’t choose to focus on the ONE comment that possibly speculates on some very old data that is no longer relevant to 2024.
If you need more convincing, remember your own comment:
If you are worrying about this, still, you are worried about the wrong things. Time to move on to the rest of your application, which is many times more important than your outstanding test score.