I currently have a 32 on the ACT (36 R, 34 E, 29 M, 28 S). I’m sure that I can improve my score if I study math and science and perhaps getting a 33, but I doubt I could improve as much as a 34. Does a 1 or 2 point difference mean that much? And am I capable of getting a 34. The score I listed above is the one time I have taken it, and I didn’t study; I took one practice test.
Which school do you plan to apply to, what is your race? knowing that will make it easier to answer that question
@VeryLuckyParent
White.
UCs: LA, SD, Davis
CSUs: Sonoma State, SDSU
LACs: Davidson, Bowdoin, Bates, Claremont McKenna
My personal opinion is for those schools, focus on making the other parts of your application stronger, instead of fretting and spending time trying to improve your score. 32 vs 33 will not make a difference. Other parts of your application will be more consequential.
@VeryLuckyParent
There’s not much I can improve. I already have an internship for this summer and pretty strong ECs.
Your essays and recommendations will be important, specially for the LACs. Work with the folks who will be writing your recommendations so that they can showcase your strengths and what you will bring to the class well. Take time on writing tailored essays.
I’m not familiar with the particulars of any of the schools you are applying to, but my recommendation would be to re-take unless you are at or near the 75% of those schools. Even though I’ve never looked into them, I think at least a few of your schools are very selective, so the higher the better.
At a college readiness presentation at my D’s school, they recommended that students take both the SAT and ACT three times each (or until they are happy enough with their score as is). Some kids do significantly better on one test than the other. Scores usually increase through the third try. If you go this route, you probably want to do a little more prep as well.
I agree with @VeryLuckyParent that essays are very important, as well as making sure your LoR writers have all the information they need from you to give the best recommendation possible. So definitely balance these areas with test decisions.
For some of the schools on your list (especially Claremont McKenna and Bowdoin), the 32 ACT will neither help nor hurt your application. More and more colleges are now superscoring the ACT, and for that reason, I think it’s in your best interest to perhaps retake, focusing your efforts on math and to a lesser extent science.
(This is coming from someone who applied to many of those schools with a 32 ACT.)