How much does a 36 ACT (in the context of a – more or less – similarly good academic profile) really help? Will colleges genuinely accept more perfect scorers than people who score a 35, 34, 33, or 32? Or does it only barely make a difference (in terms of actual acceptance rates)?
A 36 is not going to get you further than a 35, but both will put you better stead than a 32.
That said, high (or perfect) scores alone will not get you into a top 10 or top 20 college without everything else (grades, ECs, teacher recs, essays, etc.)
Adding onto what LoveTheBard said, three of my friends who had 34/35/36 ACT’s still got deferred from Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, and UMich (OOS).
All three got deferred from Michigan, which I think goes to show that the score really makes little impact once you get into the 99th percentile.
Anyway, still aim for the highest! Good luck with your applications!
Most of the competitive schools look at your academic profile and ACT/SAT scores to understand “if you can handle the school’s workload”. That means an ACT score of 34, 35, or 36 are often viewed equally.
Once they’ve determined you can handle the academic workload, they move on to the rest of your application. “The rest” of your application is often far more important than your test scores and grades.
@jrkick64 Just when I thought Michigan ROSS was a safety… Sigh.
@TeenPhilosopher Michigan is never a safety, haha; those days are long gone. But you can still get in, don’t give up hope just yet!
And Ross is even less of a safety than the rest of UM.