Hi! This is my first question here - uncertain if this is the correct place to ask, but I am taking the ACT for the first time June 14th. As such, I am simply curious if colleges/universities view the ACT as an equivalently prestigious/rigorous assessment to the SAT, as I’ve heard they typically prefer SAT, and they “don’t care” if you only get a good score on the ACT. My highest SAT score is terrible for anything better than community college (1330; 720 ELA, 610 math), so I was curious if I could still get into a good university (state school most likely) with a good ACT score.
For context, my grades are decent (3.94/4.0 unweighted, 5.1/6.0 weighted) with all AP/AICE classes, but I’m still concerned a bad SAT score could make or break admissions, despite a good ACT score. I’m also rank 2 in the class (out of ~550 total), so not sure how much that matters, but figured I’d throw it in there anyway.
Sorry for the long post; just wanted to provide full context for my question here. Any HONEST AND TRUTHFUL answers are appreciated. Also, I’m a first-generation college student and first-generation American, so possess minimal knowledge of the U.S. higher education system (apologies if I seem lost…) Thank you!
Colleges don’t prefer SAT over ACT.
SAT was introduced several decades before ACT and hence it became a default system for several statewide test policies; as a result till date you’d see more students taking SAT vs ACT. But other than the popularity there isn’t any real benefit/downside to either in terms of college admissions.
Second, a 1330 SAT score is a very good score! It will not prevent you from going to a good college.
Third, no the schools do not have a preference between the tests.
Fourth, the CC community excels when helping kids who aren’t hugely familiar with college admissions, so please do come back and use us as a resource as you go through the process.
1330 is not a terrible score, but yes some students do better on ACT. Plenty of students get into plenty of decent colleges with SAT scores in the 1300s.
SAT and ACT are largely considered substitutes of each other for college admissions.
You can look up “SAT ACT concordance” to see how a score on one is typically seen as equivalent to a score on the other, so you can see if your SAT or ACT score is better for the purpose of choosing which one to send to colleges.
Some colleges may use SAT or ACT section scores for placement into English or math courses.
You’ve received bad information - there is no preference for either test - take the one that you feel more comfortable with. Note that ACT is changing very soon and the science section will be optional. It could be tricky to study for a test that is undergoing transition, so do some research on the correct prep materials. As others have mentioned, you actually have a very good score. And there are many excellent colleges that are test optional or even test blind.