I realize that highly selective schools care a lot about community involvement and extracurriculars and many non-academic things. So I was wondering: if I’m already above the average ACT for a particular school (like an Ivy, for example), should I be thinking that getting just one more point on the ACT will make a difference for my chances of admission? I already have the one point higher score superscored, by the way (not sure that that really means anything though).
Depends on what the score is and what colleges we’re talking about.
If you got a 34 and you want a 35, that’s different than if you got a 29 and you want a 30. You’re saying highly selective so let’s say you got the 34. Anything above a 33 is pretty much golden. I don’t think there’s a huge difference between a 33, 34, 35 or 36 besides a few questions right (or wrong).
@TheDidactic I got a 33 composite and 34 superscored. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. You don’t think it’s a big deal that I got a 33 and not a 34?
No it’s fine. It’s still a top score. If you wish to take it again, that’s your choice though.
@TheDidactic OK cool, thanks. Also, not sure if you’re familiar with Naviance (if you’re not it’s a site that high schools subscribe to which among other things compiles statistics of previously admitted students from your high school to many many colleges), but I was looking at some graphs of these really selective schools (like Penn and Duke, for example), and it seemed like it was really a toss-up as long as the student was at at least a 32 or 33 and had a reasonable GPA. Plenty of 33s were declined, but plenty of 36s too. Do you think this observation is accurate about top schools? That pretty much if you have around a 32 and a good GPA you’ve got a chance, but getting a point higher on the ACT isn’t really a deciding factor? Thanks for your help.
Once you get passed 30 differences in scores start to become less significant. At that point universities see that you’re qualified on the test portion of the application. Between a 33 and a 34, it could possibly give you an advantage, but for the most part it’ll be the rest of your app that’ll make the difference.
Yes, test scores are important because it gives the colleges an idea of where you stand but the bar stops there. 32’s and 33’s do not mean you’ll be declined but 35’s and 36’s do not mean you’re going to be accepted either. It’s a deciding factor to see where you stand as a student so it’s always best to strive for as high as you can, but at the same time it doesn’t guarantee a foothold or a rejection. Sorry if my answer is confusing…but college admissions are confusing!