ACT score skews backwards for MechEng Kid '24 (35 Composite: 35 M, 34 S = 34 Stem; 36 E, 36 R)

College Search & Selection
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My kid, rising 2024 high school senior, has expressed interest in studying Mechanical Engineering.

Their first ACT test score has been released (no SAT sittings). The results are a bit unexpected. After looking at the score breakdown, I don’t really feel like having my kid test again, even if this is their first crack at the ACT. Senior year starts next month, and the common app is about to launch. The only upcoming test dates that would really count would be September and October.

I am worried, however, that the score breakdown in Math/Science doesn’t look great. (It’s amazing what missing two questions in a sub-section can do to your score.)

Would this one-and-done approach be a deal-breaker for reach schools? I don’t want to give my kid the wrong advice.

Kid is a US Citizen, CA resident. Athlete that trains frequently out of state. Attends small public independent study school in order to pursue sports. Placed nationally in their level this past season in their non-recruitable sport. Intended major: Mechanical Engineering (could expand at college depending on inspiring classes/courses).

ACT Composite: 35. Math 35; Science 33 for a STEM composite of 34. English 36; Reading 36.

PSAT Total Score: 1400. EBRW 700; Math 700. NMSC Selection Index - 210 (probably misses the cut-off).

Unweighted GPA is 3.93-ish (first B this year). Weighted GPA 10-12 w/out PE: 4.68.

AP tests: English Language & Composition - 5. Spanish - 5. Art History - 5. Psychology - 5.

Math (high school) Integrated Math 1 a, b; Integrated Math 2 a,b; Integrated Math 3 a,b; Pre-Calculus 1, 2. Math (dual enrolment community college courses as high school has no AP Calc): Calculus/Analytic Geometry 1; Calculus/Analytic Geometry 2; Calculus/Analytic Geometry 3; Discrete Mathematics; Intro to Linear Algebra; Differential Equations.

English: high school grade 9 (1 & 2) and grade 10 (3 & 4); cc de Reading and Composition; cc de Critical Thinking/Intermediate Composition.

Science: high school Bio Advanced 1,2; Chemistry Honors 1, 2; Physics 1, 2. Community college dual enrolment: Descriptive Astronomy; Physical Geography; Python Programming.

History: high school World History 1, 2. Dual enrolment community college: Political Science cc de: Intro to Political Science; Intro to American Goverment; History of the United States 1; History of the United States 2. Social science: high school AP Psychology 1, 2.

Other high school courses: Photography 1,2; Multimedia Production 1,2; Food/Nutrition 1,2; P/E every semester.

Other community college dual enrolment courses: Art Orientation; Art History Renaissance/Modern; Engineering Drawing; Interpersonal Communication; Health & Lifestyle.

Currently building a wide-ranging list. Kid blooms where they are planted and any college experience will be larger than their high school one.

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I’d be done. I’m pretty sure CA schools won’t be using tests text year (@Gumbymom?) and that score will put him in the hunt everywhere. The big private name schools are a long shot even with perfect test scores. There are a bunch of great options for ME in CA.

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Not that it should matter, but my kid is female and considered an URM. Don’t know how much that impacts the list of schools applied to. Merit would be welcome. Looking at any scholarships that would be available.

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Pretty sure our experienced college counselors would laugh in your face if you asked whether you should retake a 35. It is not an advanced content test, and the course work is far more meaningful for that purpose. Whatever can be proven with the ACT (which is really very limited), I would consider it done.

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You can feel free to research this as well, but when looking around at competitive merit scholarships, the most competitive I could find implied they were looking for people who were in the top 1% of college applicants, and that appeared in practice (eg, anecdotal reports) to include 35 ACTs, but not necessarily 34s, which makes sense statistically.

Not that 35 would guarantee anything on its own, but it appeared to be pulling its weight in the overall competition for these scholarships.

Edit: Oh, and that is consistent with the idea these scholarships are designed to attract applicants away from the most selective colleges which do not offer merit aid.

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I don’t think taking the ACT again is a good use of your daughter’s time. Better to spend time on researching colleges, and getting essays done well.

I believe CA public universities have gone permanently test blind…meaning your daughter’s ACT score won’t be looked at at all. @Gumbymom will verify.

In terms of CA publics, I don’t think either of these things matters.

Regarding other options…if you really want a lot of merit…look at Arizona. I believe your daughter would qualify for a lot of merit aid there. University of New Mexico is another option.

Plenty of instate public options in CA.

Are you looking for additional suggestions?

If you give us an annual budget, it’s way easier to make good suggestions. Also, any geographic area preferences!

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Good to know, and is why I’m asking the question. My kid did the test once, without expensive tutors. I get the sense that quite a few of the 36 scores come with a ton of personal tutoring prep that my kid didn’t do.

Just don’t want that different approach to exclude them from being considered for competitive scholarships because they didn’t have that extra support behind them.

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Your daughter is a strong student. I wouldn’t worry one bit about a 35 ACT score. If she doesn’t get accepted to some reachy college or some scholarship …you will never know why…but this likely won’t be the reason.

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The California public universities: UC’s and Cal states are permanently test blind for admissions. ACT and SAT scores will only be used for course placement. An ACT score of 35 is excellent and if she does not get into her top schools, it will not be due to that score.

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This is a large part of why so many colleges are going permanently test optional, some test blind. There is too much noise caused by things like money spent on prep, often in multiple rounds. Or, for that matter, having low test anxiety.

And there just aren’t going to be enough people with 36s AND everything else they need for the big merit scholarships AND then the willingness to turn down an admission offer from a highly valued school which offers no merit aid . . . but may offer very generous need based aid.

Meaning a lot of those kids’ families either are fine paying what it takes to send that kid to an “elite” school, or aren’t paying much for the elite school to begin with, and so can’t be wooed away with merit aid. And although each individual school might not have a lot of these really big merit scholarships, it adds up.

So to meet the purposes of these scholarships, they have to be generous enough with the academic requirements. Not too generous, but it is pretty obvious why drawing the line between 35 and 36 would not allow for a big enough pool.

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Using race in admissions was just struck down by the Supreme Court, so directly, it won’t make any difference at all. Gender still can. At MIT for example it’s roughly 3x as easy for a female to be admitted as a male. The opposite is true of Brown. Who knows how long that will last as legacy status is under fire. Expect gender to be next.

As for merit, many schools simply don’t offer it. Do you qualify for need based aid? Do you have a budget in mind?

As I said before, there are many very good ME programs in CA. In fact my son came from OOS to attend one. ME is egalitarian. According to College Scorecard ME grads from Cal Poly, Berkeley, UCLA, CMU, Cornell and MIT all make the same, $98K. Start with CA publics, and if you want a better deal than that, look at WUE and automatic scholarships like Alabama and Arizona State.

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I am very confused about this. Great score. Write a great essay to match. Apply broadly since no one will know what can happen.

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The ACT score unexpectedly had English and Reading scores better than the Math/Science STEM composite score. For a Mechanical Engineering applicant, the numbers should ideally be reversed.

Given that they did the test once and without tutoring, it’s possible that they could improve the score for a 36.

My kid is applying to a range of schools, including reaches. My thought is that while a 36 would look better to top schools (than the current 35), it’s a lot time spent for only a few more questions in one section’s improvement (Science).

Our family is definitely happy to be done this aspect of the college application. Just wanted to ensure that a 35 is enough for applications and scholarship considerations.

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Tutoring does indeed help with ACT and SAT scores. That is a valid reason for universities to put less emphasis or even no emphasis on test scores.

35 is a very good score on the math part of the ACT test. I would not worry about it. I also would not worry about a 33 on the science part of the test.

I was under the impression that the universities of California do not consider ACT/SAT scores at all. You are also in a state that has really, really good public universities.

I also would not worry about it.

I was secretly very pleased when my youngest got her first B. It showed her that she did not need to be perfect. This lesson was almost certainly more important than whatever subject she did not manage to get an A in. We went out for ice cream. Apparently she also learned that you do need to put in the effort if you want to get solid A’s.

I think that your daughter is doing very well.

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Although we are fortunate to be in CA, there are other schools on my kid’s list that are important to apply to. They are out of state. We may very well end up in state, but some out of state schools are near facilities that would allow my kid to continue to train in their sport more easily. So they are being seriously considered as we build a list of schools to apply to.

All the personal anecdotes here other parents are recounting about their students is very helpful, by the way. They are enjoyable to hear about. Adds perspective to an impersonal experience.

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For California public universities (many of which offer mechanical engineering majors), SAT, ACT, race, ethnicity, and gender do not matter for admission. Recalculated GPA is the most important factor.

In any case, being “backwards” on ACT sections relative to intended major is unlikely to be a big deal when the “low” section scores are 35 and 33.

The only scholarships I have heard of where a 35 versus 36 composite matters are at University of Alabama Tuscaloosa and Huntsville.

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Your splitting hairs. If he doesn’t get accepted or doesn’t get a scholarship it won’t be because of the scores. The whole application needs to line up. There is no guarantee that taking it 3 times with or without a tutor will raise his scores. There are arguments that the reverse could be true. It has nothing to do with 1 or 3 sittings either. Put the effort into the whole application now. I believe especially this year the essay will actually matter more. Have plenty of safeties. Every year perfect score or close to it students get shut out of colleges. The colleges want a wide range of students. Only so many high Stat accomplished kids out there. With proper advice, he should have a successful application season. He seems to be a very competitive applicant.

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Hmmmm. Crazy you ask this.

But there are schools - a few - like an Alabama where a 36 ACT get you even more merit. Of course there you’d win the diversity scholarship and it’s not on your list anyway. The point being - there may (I don’t know) be a few auto merit schools where a 36 does better. But they may not superscore.

But in general - heck no. He’s done.

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It’s not like the math and science scores were poor. They were also excellent as was the composite.

It sounds like you want your kid to get a 36…right? Please keep in mind that if the kid retakes, there is also a possibility that some subtest scores will go down.

I just can’t think of any good reason why one would take the ACT again with a 35 ACT score.

I personally think you are concentrating on the wrong things.

And remember. There are plenty of 36 ACT score kids who get rejected from some colleges and don’t receive some competitive scholarships.

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This is probably the most important point. Resources are constrained. At this point in the process, time is becoming a precious commodity. These kids have to keep going with whatever was working for them to this point (which hopefully includes taking care of physical, social, and mental health as well), AND also now write carefully considered applications. Wasting a lot of that time trying to get a couple more answers right on their next ACT, when colleges know full well that is all that means, is not a good use of that remaining time.

Or, as some say: when you have won, stop playing the game. This kid won the ACT game, which means they can stop playing and do something more productive with that time.

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