<p>What is the ACT score needed to be competitive for admission? I have read elsewhere that the midrange is 31-35, but what is the point where ACT wouldn't count AGAINST you? And are the ACT score midranges just the composite score, or composite score with writing? I ask because I have a 33 composite (35 English, 35 Reading, 33 Math, 30 Science) and a 34 composite with writing (11 Writing).</p>
<p>I think it depends on your other qualities. I’d say 29+ is definitely a good range to be in. Of course, higher is better, but after a point it doesn’t matter how high they are.</p>
<p>29 is way too low for Harvard, barring extreme exceptions. In general, I would say anything less than a 32 would hurt your application at Harvard. 32 and 33 would have no effect (meaning they wouldn’t think either “that score is too low” or “wow that’s a good score”). 34-36 they will view as good scores that could possibly make up for other “weaker” sections of your app, say a 3.97 instead of a 4.0, but they still can reject 36s because test scores are only one small part of the process.</p>
<p>Also, writing doesn’t change your composite so you don’t have a 34 just because you got an 11 on writing. Writing virtually has zero effect on admissions and actually has zero effect on the composite.</p>
<p>29 isn’t way too low. Again, it depends on circumstances. If OP goes to a school like mine, 29 is not bad but not good for Harvard but it’s stellar for the area, which is important.
Granted, it would be best to be 31+, but 29 won’t kill his chances at all.</p>
<p>“29 isn’t way too low”</p>
<p>It is for everyone but very special cases, as was stated in post #2. They happen and there’s no doubting that point. But unless the applicant has something H really really wants, a 29 will kill his/her chances. Period.</p>
<p>^Agree with the post above me. A 29 is extremely damaging to the majority of applications. Exceptions would be a combination of either perfect GPA/hardest rigor (signifying smart but bad test taker), or some crazy EC like publishing multiple books, USA IMO team, patented inventor, cured cancer, etc, and possibly URM. The only thing Harvard judges you within your school is rigor, class rank, and sometimes your GPA. For things like test scores, the whole point is that you aren’t judged in the context of your school but the context of the country, hence “standardized” tests.</p>
<p>The ACT is scored oddly in that a 36 is markedly rarer than a 2400 on the SAT, thus a 36 would get noticed–so long as it fits within the rest of the applicant’s academic profile. I think anything lower than a 32 you had better have some really good hook or be the contrabassoon player of this generation.</p>