<p>His friend must have had horrible grades then.</p>
<p>the ACT is NOT the deciding factor.</p>
<p>you are well within the average accepted range. good. you can check that off your list. it's not going to make or break you. your gpa, ec's, etc. are far, far more important.</p>
<p>He didn't have horrible grades at all. College admissions have just gotten extremely competetive. I think you have to be an outstanding candidate to be accepted at highly competetive institutions if you standardized test scores are at the lower end of spread.</p>
<p>^^ Uhhh... I would say that unless you are nationally ranked in something, getting into All State Band can't make up for a 30 ACT... because the thing is, a lot of other people probably got into All-State band, and have 31s, 32s, 33s, and 34s...</p>
<p>DSC -- wouldn't you assume that most people below the 25% at Harvard (30) are hooked in some other way? As I said before, a 29 COULD be your downfall, if you aren't a hooked candidate, and it's between you and someone else.</p>
<p>Check this link out. It will tell you about test ranges for colleges</p>
<p>No... a 30 WILL be your downfall unless you're a hooked candidate. Michelle Hernandez, a former admissions rep at Darmouth and now private college counselor who charges A LOT of money for her services and starts kids in 8th grade, says in her book that test scores account for 2/3 of your admission at most top colleges. SO, will a 30 hurt you? I'm sorry to say that it will.</p>
<p>^lol</p>
<p>Maybe that's true at Harvard, but at schools like Stanford it's a much more holistic process.</p>
<p>Do you have any evidence of that, or is that just what you'd like to believe?</p>
<p>You're right, it's just what I'd like to believe in my fairytale world where the college application you send in is actually just a piece of paper with your SAT/ACT score on it. Also, you're designated a bar code instead of a name. Kind of similar to the fairytale world you live in, huh?</p>
<p>What I am saying (and what my CC said) was I probably would have been accepted at HYSC if I had gotten higher test scores (34+ on ACT). Furthermore, I'm done with the admissions process, and going to college. Believe what you like, but I had a great extra curricular record (state recognition in three unrelated areas) and so, it must have been my low test scores 32, that stopped me from getting in... </p>
<p>Bottom Line: You need the full package unless you're hooked.</p>
<p>32 = 2130
What's wrong with a 32? I thought that was good! Unless you did really bad in one section (ex. 36s throughout, and just bomb math)</p>
<p>ACT Composite Midldle 50% (according to P Review):
Stanford = 28-33
Harvard = 31-34
Yale = 31-34</p>
<p>You're in the middle 50% of all of them. I think your CC is wrong; I don't think it was your "low" test scores.</p>
<p>A lot of posters like to use 2250 as a good SAT goal for top colleges and Ivies. According to the charts I've found, a 30 ACT is about equivalent to a 1980 new SAT, so you might want to consider trying to pull your score up about four points, putting you at a 2260 SAT equivalency. Of course, this is purely mathematical and doesn't account for how colleges view the writing sections of either test.</p>
<p>A 29 is a fine score, but who is going to get in if all else is the same, you with the 29, or the kid with the 35? At this point of the game (I'm assuming we're all juniors) ...</p>
<p>1) You can't pull your grades up this late in the game
2) Thus your class rank won't change significantly
3) Joining EC's at the beginning of senior year is iffy</p>
<p>So what else is there to do to make your application stronger?</p>
<p>1) Retake your standardized tests
2) Make your essay amazing</p>
<p>I don't know about you guys, but I really want to go to the colleges I'm applying to, and I know that my chances of getting in with a score at the bottom 25% of a college is iffy. I would get off my lazy butt and study a bit more.</p>
<p>A 32 IS good. The problem is, unless you're hooked, a 32 won't exactly get you in. Keep in mind HYP turns away hoards of applicants with PERFECT SCORES. A 32 ACT isn't so hard to turn away.</p>
<p>Fhimas, no one is denying that you need a hook. Everyone needs a hook, regardless of whether its a 26 or a 36. What I'm saying is that a 30, or even a 29, usually won't be <em>the</em> defining factor in whether or not you're in or out.</p>
<p>At least, this is true for schools that want people and not just numbers.</p>
<p>?</p>
<p>why can't the math score and reading score of the ACT be converted to SAT-like scores</p>
<p>34 Math
33 Reading
would be???</p>
<p>^^ Let's look at Harvard's middle 50 percent of the ACT (it's easier for comparison). Harvard's middle 50 percent is a 31 to 34, meaning that 25 percent of its students they admit have 35s and 36s, and 'average' applicants have 31-34, and the rest have something below that. I think we both agree that admissions officers won't throw your app out right away if you have a 30, but what I'm saying is a 30 will not get you in simply because there will likely be a similar applicant with similar credentials but with better test scores... </p>
<p>Furthermore, your argument is flawed because it relies on the assumption that 'people' and 'numbers' are mutually exclusive, that 'people' cannot also be 'numbers.' However, in this day and age of super competitive admissions, the applicants who do get in, are 'people' with great numbers.</p>
<p>Bottom line, unless you are related to a celebrity, are a URM, a legacy (iffy), or an athlete, a 30 won't get you past the second portal.</p>
<p>Fhimas - Do you think the person should just stick with a 31, then, if they don't have a hook, etc. since it is the average?</p>
<p>I don't mean to be picky, but those stats do not mean 25% have 35s and 36s</p>
<p>It only means the middle percent have 31s-34s
Depending on how many 31s, 32s, and 33s are admitted
Harvard's "top 25%" could mostly be composed of students who scored 34s</p>
<p>Now, I do not find much difference in a 34, 35, or a 36, so this point is somewhat mute, but I wanted to add it anyways</p>
<p>Unless any of us are on the adcom when the OP is applying to such-n-such university, we really do not know what the "average" 31 on the ACT will mean</p>
<p>Yes, we can take stats, ancedotes, intuition, experience, all of the above to speculate... but in the end, there is only one decision that will matter
Even then, life goes on, and successful people are not determined by their alma mater.... Succesful people make their alma mater look great</p>