I’m taking a second gap year because I’m doing some ECs, but I sent in a 29 and a 25 on the ACT because I couldn’t afford individual score reports then. I was traveling and sick (with pneumonia) when I got the 25. I’m taking the SAT in August and I’ll most likely get 1430+, but I want to know if Yale will hold the 29 and 25 against me.
No, assuming your SAT is higher. And since Yale no longer requires all SAT and ACT scores, you can just not send your ACT scores.
FWIW: Selective colleges use test scores to gauge how well an applicant might handle the reading, writing and math work load on their campus. The HIGHER your test score, the LESS likely an Admissions Director will question “If I admit this kid, will they struggle on my campus?”
No college wants to admit a student and set them up for failure, so to reassure Admissions Directors that a student can handle the work load on their campus, a student’s test scores should be safely in a college’s middle 50%. For Yale, the middle 50% is a 34-35 ACT or the SAT equivalent. A student applying to Yale with less than the middle 50% needs to demonstrate they could easily handle the workload on campus. There are several ways a student can accomplish this:
(1) Teacher Recommendations: Will the teacher recommendations extoll the student’s ability in a particular area of study? For example, will your LoR’s be proclaiming you as the best writer to come into their classroom in 30 years? That would certainly be a plus in the student’s favor, AND demonstrate the student could easily handle the reading and writing workload on their campus.
(2) Guidance Counselor: Will your GC be extolling your ability in a particular area of study? Both the GC and teacher recommendation carry much more weight in the application process than an applicant thinks: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started/video-transcription/whats-the-most-important-part-of-the-application
Currently your ACT scores are far below Yale’s middle 50% and your projected SAT score of 1430 is as well. To be a serious applicant for Yale you really need an SAT score that is above 1530 (a 2230 on the old SAT).