How To Get Accepted Into College With Low SAT Scores

How To Get Accepted Into College With Low SAT Scores: Strategy

You’ve thought of the top best schools you could apply to. You have a good image of what the best college looks like for you: beautiful place, good social life, great career opportunities, new frontiers. Whether you’ve had a dream college in your mind or just want to get accepted to a good school to get ahead in life, there’s that little voice at the back of your mind. “Will I get accepted?” “What if my GPA is high but my SAT is low?” “Can I get accepted to a good college with low scores?” “Will I get into any good colleges with a low GPA and SAT too?” No doubt one of those questions racing in your mind will be “how to get accepted into college with low SAT scores”. It’s the bargaining of the grieving process.

It’s okay!

It’s totally normal to panic when your SAT scores are lower than average. After all, your scores tell college admissions officers a story. It tells them that despite your AP and honors classes, your academic ability is lacking –all because of just one test.

It may seem like you’ve lost all chances of getting accepted to a great school, but it’s okay: hyperbolic assumptions like that were pushed by clueless parents and anxious soccer moms.

Girls Gossiping — You’ll hear plenty of rumors about the level of importance of aspects of the college application.

Yes, we know: low scores suck and they will no doubt drop your college admission chances. It’s not the end. There are many ways to compensate for a low SAT, as there are many ways to compensate for a low GPA. Here at PenningPapers we have gathered a list of some of the most vital actions you need to take to get accepted into college with low SAT scores.

Consider The ACT Instead of the SAT

This is the first step you need to take in this situation. If your college application deadline is nearing and you are not confident you can get a better SAT score by taking the test again, you should take the ACT. You know you need to take the ACT when you plan to increase your SAT score but have the sinking feeling of, “should I take the SAT again?” “What if I don’t do well in the SAT the next time I take it?”

You most probably will want to take the ACT instead because it is less stressing on the English section than the SAT is. The science section is also among many considered “easy”, so by rules of logistics you may have a higher chance of success in the ACT.

Think about it: the ACT has an easy English section, an easy science section, and a math section that may or may not be hard for you. The SAT has a more difficult English section and a math section that may or may no be difficult. The best part about this is that colleges do not prefer one test to the other.

The ACT is also more focused on a structure that replicates the type of tests that you see in school. The SAT is mostly unfamiliar territory, so taking the ACT to compensate for your low SAT scores will be extremely useful.

Write The Additional Comments Section Well

This is the most important part to consider when applying to college with low SAT scores. The additional comments section will act as the section that allows you to capture the attention of the college admissions officers and point out anything that you need to describe in your application that cannot be done with the college application essay.

Except, you will be explaining why your SAT scores are low in your college application essay, just not in the way that most know how to do properly.

But back to the additional comments section: you need to be able to write the situation that had led you to score low on the SAT test compared to what you would like to score. This can be due to traumas or problematic familial issues or gender/ sexual identity issues. Inconveniences such as travel and other good and valid excuses should be used and written well.

And no: procrastination and video games are not valid excuses for low SAT scores.

This may scare some applicants into not filling out the additional comments section, but fear not. There are more often than not plenty of reasons that have contributed to your low SAT scores that you can elaborate and talk about, you just need to look deep enough and explain them well enough. If you need help with this section, which most people will as it is the only opportunity to justify your low SAT scores to the admissions officers in direct words, you should consider having expert advice and consultations to give you the necessary aid.

Earn Honorary Mentions/ Awards

Okay, we know what you may be thinking. “My application is a few days away, are you kidding?” “How can I earn an award or receive an honorary mention before the college application deadline?” Well, it’s definitely possible, despite how difficult it can be.

What we recommend is applying to medium and low-level competitions, that means applying to small local competitions at least and regional areas of the state at most. You can apply for state wide competitions too, but that can be rather difficult and we do not recommend going any higher unless you are highly certain of your success.

This is the best method because winning in a medium to low tier competition will have the right balance: it holds enough weight that it isn’t a participation award and it is not competitive enough to get you washed out and beaten by other people.

Remember: There are plenty of applicants who focus on their GPA and SATs/ ACTs, fewer who capitalize on their application essay despite its weightier importance, and even fewer who attempt to compete to win awards despite its significant boon to admissions chances. Very few people ever compete in competitions fearing that it will be hard to win, which is exactly why you should capitalize on that!

This rule also applies to college application essays, which we will get to next.

Note, too that getting placed 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd will help you stay competitive in the college admissions pool; usually getting placed over 3^rd place will be ineffective unless it is for a regional statewide competition. (like a journalism competition for all of Southern California.)

Write A Unique College Application Essay

This goes with just about every kind of compensation, whether it is compensating for a low GPA or a low SAT or a lack of relevant extracurricular activities or awards. Having a unique college application essay will help individuals shine among the rest of the college application pool. You should also consider the fact that most students do not even know how important the college application essay is to begin with. The ones who do know of its importance in the admissions process do not always know how to write it effectively either.

In essence, most applicants you are competing with are relying on solely their GPA and SATs/ACTs. You have to use this to your advantage by having a unique application essay that will paint you in a good light.

Sure, applying to college with low GPA scores is placing you at a disadvantage, but optimizing your college application essay to make yourself look special and unique compared to the rest of the college application pool is going to be a major boost that will get you staying competitive.

Do “Something” In A Club Or Extracurricular

If you genuinely have no fields you believe you cannot compete in and successfully win in –or simply do not have the time to practice and prepare for competitions you feel like you cannot win anyway—fear not. Just because you cannot win awards does not mean you cannot show the college admissions officers that you can be more deserving of admission to their school than other applicants.

You will need to make sure that you can do “something” in a club or extracurricular activity. This “something” means contributing to your club or community in a way that positively benefits a select few individuals or a network of people.

For instance: you plant trees for a club and have successfully replaced many old trees and made your small home town city look better.

Planting Community Service — You could say planting trees now will bear you fruit later.

Another example would be doing a lot of one type of community service to demonstrate passion and hands-on commitment to your hobbies and aspirations.

Community Service for College Apps — Just sticking to one type of volunteer work for college apps can be very helpful. It shows you take initiative in a specific field you care about.

A very good example from one of our clients who had successfully been accepted to UC Santa Barbara, his dream school, was his struggle to keep his favorite fashion club alive. He had produced shirts that sold for a profit to keep the club running; he then used this financial advantage to expand the constitution of the club.

Clothing store — We don’t expect you to be able to have aspirations and projects as big as these, but it’s a good example of what has worked in the past.

This does not mean that this can ever beat the usefulness and weight of a competition in your application. Winning a competition will always be a larger significance than just about any other aspect of the college application, with some exceptions included of course.

Have The Right Letters of Recommendation

Having a good letter of recommendation is also capable of helping you stand out among the rest of your peers. However, we do understand how improbable obtaining one may be. You need to have built a good rapport with your teachers and they have to have remembered enough about you to write for your application the best quality recommendation they could try.

That doesn’t consider the fact that most teachers are busy and their jobs include teaching rowdy classrooms of 30-40 students. With that in mind, it’d be rather difficult to find ways to modify the recommendation letter to your will.

Regardless, sitting and talking to your teachers will give them a good idea of what and how to write your letter of recs. How well they write it is up to them and beyond your control, but having a good rapport will have secured this point by then.