DO COLLEGES PREFER THE SAT MORE OVER THE ACT?
Elton Lin
Which is the better test, the one that stands victoriously over the other: the SAT or the ACT? This discussion requires a very large asterisk in recent times due to the increasing number of schools going test optional. We talk about the test optional trend more here and the specifics of the most recent UC decision to move away from requiring the submission of SAT and ACT scores, so be sure to check out those articles.
With standardized tests being as important as they are, it’s natural that parents and students alike compare the two tests side by side, trying to judge the better of the two. However, as much as the two tests have their differences, schools don’t favor the SAT over the ACT, contrary to popular belief—and to dispel any remaining doubts (and worries), here’s the evidence.
First, every U.S. four-year college accepts both the SAT and the ACT. Some people think that certain colleges don’t accept the ACT, but that’s definitely not the case. But people may still argue that colleges favor the SAT more, accepting more students who submit SAT scores than those who submit ACT scores, even if they allow students to submit scores from either one, which brings us to the next point.
Colleges report that they view SAT and the ACT equally. Admissions teams have said so—even the director of Harvard College admissions said, “Either [test] is fine with us, and we don’t have a feeling that either [test] favors students with any particular profile.” And no, they’re not lying to hide their perceived partiality. The statistics do seem to show a college preference for the SAT—67% of Harvard’s admitted students submitted SAT scores, while 53% submitted ACT scores (a ratio mirrored in other colleges as well)—but in truth, these numbers reflect the students’ situations, not the colleges’ preferences. For example, students tend to take a particular test due to the region of the U.S. in which they live, partially because of the emphasis of local school districts on one standardized test or the other. Much of the West Coast and the East Coast (Texas and Indiana, too) tend to take the SAT, which just so happens to make up a larger percentage of many colleges’ demographics, especially Ivy League schools. (Sticking to the Harvard example: students from these SAT-prone regions make up 53.5% of the Class of 2021.)
The ACT has become a prestigious standardized test in its own right, and colleges recognize that. Though the SAT has a longer history than the ACT—it was first administered in 1926, as opposed to the ACT in 1959—the two have a practically equal standing in prestige today. In the past, the SAT was The Test to take, and colleges may have favored the SAT long ago simply because it was the test they knew, with scores they knew how to interpret and use to evaluate a student. But the ACT has been growing in popularity since, even having more test-takers than the SAT, and colleges now have a wealth of experience with its scores and what they indicate.
So, do colleges favor the SAT more than the ACT? The answer is no. Not only does the evidence indicate an impartiality on the part of colleges when judging both students who submit SAT scores and students who submit ACT scores, there’s no viable reason for colleges to favor the SAT over the ACT (or vice-versa, for that matter) in the first place. Students should rest assured and choose the standardized test that best suits them, without having to worry if the test they pick will hurt their chances at college acceptances.