<p>My daughter has taken the ACT twice. Her last test resulted in a 28 broken down as: English-35; Reading-33; Science-25; Math-21; and writing score of 10. As you can see her weakness is in Math. She brought it up from the first time she took the ACT. Her grades in school for Math are always straight A's but when it comes to this type of testing she freezes on the Math. My question is should she bother to retake the ACT to bring up the Math grade? I feel the scores are good enough for her as she is applying as a music major. My concerns are also she is trying to get all her applications done soon so she can hopefully get a jump on audition scheduling and if she needs to wait until fall ACT scores are in it would probably delay the process. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>There is no one answer, it is too school specific.</p>
<p>In general, straight conservatories place minimal if any emphasis on grades, test scores.</p>
<p>Conservatory, conservatory level programs attached to universities, LAC's each weigh them differently.</p>
<p>Some have more wiggle room than others. </p>
<p>And older thread, with links to others is here.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/505344-academics-vs-talent.html?highlight=academics%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/505344-academics-vs-talent.html?highlight=academics</a></p>
<p>Individual school parameters might be found in some school specific threads.</p>
<p>Also, her scores seem pretty decent, based on my limited knowledge of translating between ACTs and SAT's.</p>
<p>So much of whether to divert attention from music to study/retake tests is really contingent upon the type of school(s) she's looking at.</p>
<p>In general, the scores are fine for any conservatoy, many "attached" conservatory programs. Conservatory level programs like Rice, and I believe Peabody, Eastman, and a few more maybe Michigan, Indiana/Jacobs and others all weigh the academics to some degree in conjunction with the audition. </p>
<p>In many cases it pays to focus on audition prep rather than retaking tests if the student is comfortably above the avergage of accepted applicants.</p>
<p>The music admissions sections webpages of any specific school is the first place to concentrate for this type of info. School specific anecdotal evidence can also be extremely helpful.</p>
<p>Yes I agree with you Violadad on taking time away from audition prep time. That was my daughter's other reason for not wanting to retake the ACT. As far as her other academic credentials she has a 4.4 GPA, in the top 10% of her class and has taken all AP and Honors classes offered. She also has strong extracurriculars. But I will take your advice and look up the schools individually to see what the "Music Dept" admission scores are. Thanks for your help!!</p>
<p>Not many schools actually break out the test scores and GPA for their music departments from the rest of the school. You may be able to find that kind of information in a few cases where there is only a music department (the stand-alone conservatories where the academics will not really matter) or where the music school is a separate entity with its own admission office (Oberlin, Peabody, Eastman and so forth where grades and test scores may matter to some extent but still are a lot less important than the audition) but it will be difficult or impossible to find for schools where the music department is more integrated into the rest of the school.</p>
<p>What schools is she considering and what instrument or voice part? I think the decision depends a lot on the answer to those questions. If she is the flute player that inspired your screen name, then you should know that flute is one of the most competitive instruments out there given the large number of applicants and the small number of openings on that instrument. There are only a small number of schools with top music departments where a 28 ACT (~1900 SAT) would put her at a disadvantage, but any disadvantage at all is a real problem for a flute student. If she is not considering those schools, she would do far better putting the time into practicing for auditions. If she is serious about applying to a school that requires top test scores, then she may have to do what it takes to bring the math score up.</p>