Will 640 on a Subject Test Keep Me Out of Yale?

Written by Sally Rubenstone | Sept. 24, 2013

Question: I am planning to apply Yale. According to Yale’s admission website, I should send all my SAT and SAT II scores. I took the SAT I once, and 4 different subjects tests. Three of them are 800, but one is 640. I am worried that this one bad score hurts my chances.

Yes, Yale expects you to send them ALL of your test scores. But your one “bad” score will not affect your chances whatsoever. Yale will officially “use” only two scores. Sure, the admission folks may see the other two, but given that you did so extremely well on three tests, the lower score will mean absolutely nothing.

Trust “The Dean” … if you don’t get into Yale, it won’t be because of that 640. The hyper-competitive colleges turn away thousands of fully qualified students every year who would thrive there if accepted.

Good luck!

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.