The Common Application & The SAT/ACT

Every year students all over the world use The Common Application to apply to schools around the United States, with schools making admissions decisions halfway through their last year of high school/6th form. What this means is that if you are applying to the American system, you will find out if you’ve been admitted a full 10 to 6 months before you will start college. This is one of the many reasons many international athletes choose the America route. In addition to the early notification, students have two years to declare their major in the United States. 

Recruiting process goes along with the early admissions timeline as compared. Given how early American schools admit their students, international families often find themselves behind in the process due to how much earlier the process unfolds in the USA in comparison to their domestic application routes. Understanding the schools’ deadlines helps students applying to gain a better understanding of the recruiting timeline, and helps families feel more prepared. 

Schools in the United States typically have two separate deadlines for the application process –

           November 1st – Early Decision (binding), Early Action (non-binding) or Single Choice Early Decision.

           January 1st – The most common regular decision deadline – can vary by schools.

The earlier date is typically reserved for your top choice school(s). It’s very common for recruited athletes to apply by the November 1st deadline and to only apply to one school. If you are not being recruited, it’s common to apply to more than one school for the early deadline, and even more schools for the January 1st deadline. Most recruited athletes will use the November 1st deadline for applying and will hear back about their official admissions decision around December 15th; those recruited athletes that apply for the January 1st deadline will hear back about their official decision around April 15th. Official decisions are decisions that are released on the same date all every other student applying to those schools. Most recruited athletes will get either a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to sign (if you are receiving an athletic scholarship) or a Likely Letter (if you are being supported at an Ivy League school) before the official notification of acceptance by the university. Both the NLI and the Likely Letter are considered early admissions notification, so long as the student maintains their academic standing. 

As you start working on The Common Application, there are a few things that you need to know:

1. Recommenders should be from your most challenging subjects that you’ve done the best in.
2. Your essays should be works of art! American high school students often spend part of their junior year (second to last year of high school) writing their college essays in their English class. They get their essays edited by numerous people and expand on their ideas to show depth. It would help if you too had your pieces poured over by as many people as possible. 
3. Submit your best SAT/ACT scores*

*due to COVID, many schools have waived the SAT/ACT testing component this year

The academic testing component of the application requires students to choose between two standardized tests: The SAT and the ACT:

The SAT has two sections: Math, and Reading, Writing and Language Usage. Both sections are worth up to 800 points each, making the top score y 1600. Most high-end schools are looking for 1350 or higher for International Students. You can, however, still find yourself admitted to fiercely academic schools with a testing score lower than 1350 – a vague cut-off that will vary between schools and years. The SAT allows super scoring, which means that you can take your top scores from each section and put them together for a final score. This will enable you to test multiple times to accumulate an improved score. The SAT is only offered in a handful of testing series overt the year, so planning to take the test early puts you in the best position for recruiting. Most schools will recommend that athletes start taking the SAT the first year of their A-Levels to complete SAT testing by the end of your first A Level Year. Khan Academy is a free online collection of lessons that has an excellent SAT prep course that will allow students to prepare for the SAT for free. 

The ACT is another testing taking option. The ACT is composed of English, Math, Science, and Reading. Those strong in the sciences often will choose the ACT over the SAT for this reason. The ACT has just started to allow super scoring this year, which is a very attractive feature. The max score you can get on the ACT is a 36 and those looking at the higher end of the academic schools would want to be above 31/32 on the ACT. Currently, the ACT does not have a partnership with any of the virtual educational platforms regarding a study guide, making it slightly less popular for international students. The ACT is also offered at various times throughout the year, typically on different weekends than the SAT. 

Some American students will take both the SAT and the ACT. Most college counsellors would recommend that you do practise tests with each testing company and decide which one works best for you based on your strengths and weaknesses. Students should plan to take the SAT or ACT at least twice if shooting for a top-end score, and some will end up testing three times. To have testing completed by the end of your first A-Level year, you must pay close attention to your scheduling given racing and other academic obligations that you may have. Your American counterparts in the recruiting cycle will likely be wholly done with their testing by June of their second to last year of school. 

Take-aways on the SAT/ACT:

1. Plan to complete SAT/ACT by June of your first A-Level Year
2. Plan to take the test at least twice
3. Register EARLY as test dates/sites fill up quickly

NOTE: With the surge of COVID related closures of SAT and ACT testing sites, some schools made testing optional for this application cycle (2020-2021). Some schools have already determined that the 2021-2022 application cycle will also offer optional testing submission. Other schools have not yet decided. If you can take the SAT/ACT, take it. However, if the test centres continue to close at high rates, the testing component of the application process might become optional for all schools again in the 2021-2022 cycle. Final decisions on whether testing is required or not will likely be finalized by most schools in June of 2021. 

Resources:

ACT – www.act.org

SAT – www.collegeboard.org

Khan Academy – https://www.khanacademy.org/sat

The Common Application – https://www.commonapp.org/

Questions?  laura@simonconsulting.org

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This article was written by Laura Simon, currently the lead recruiter at Yale University for the Women’s Team. To find out more about her work and story, head over to our content partners page, or read more of her work here.

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Photos by Roesie Percy and Laura Simon

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