College ACT "range" question

Applying to College
1

<p>I was wondering, if lets say University X has an ACT range of 29-34 , does that mean that typical people who are accepted fall in that range or what? I have a 32 ACT so i was wondering if thats good if the range is 29-34..</p>

2

<p>When they give you a range like that they are usually stating that the middle 50% of accepted students will fall within that range. The top 25% of accepted students will be above the range and the bottom 25% of accepted students are below the range. Your score of 32 would put you towards the top the middle 50%. Depending on your GPA and class rank, you could likely consider this school a match.</p>

3

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<p>If this information is from a Common Data Set source, the students spoken about are ENROLLED students, not admitted students. Most colleges admit many more students than they enroll (in either words, they have “yields” less than 50 percent), so if a college wants to brag it will report figures for the students it admitted, many of whom will enroll at better colleges. The enrolled students middle 50 percent range is the most reliable way to compare one college to another. Here are some examples: </p>

<p>[College</a> Search - Yale University - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board) </p>

<p>[College</a> Search - Princeton University - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board) </p>

<p>[College</a> Search - University of Chicago - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board) </p>

<p>and there are more where these came from. </p>

<p>If the school has a low base acceptance rate (and ANY school with an ACT score interquartile range of 29 to 34 surely has a low base acceptance rate), you should consider it a “reach,” not a match, because most applicants are being rejected. If your own score is 32, by itself it puts you only in about the middle of the range of ENROLLED students (if the range came from a Common Data Set source) and that in turn means you are probably near the bottom end of the range of ADMITTED students (because some admitted students will enroll at one of the few schools with a higher range). That means you couldn’t count on your chance of admission being any higher than the base acceptance rate, unless you have some amazing hook. So apply to a sure-bet safety college first of all, </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/493318-dont-forget-apply-safety-college.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/493318-dont-forget-apply-safety-college.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>apply to the college where you found that score range if you like it, and apply to various other colleges that are more like “reach” colleges than your safety college. For students with some sets of scores, it’s easy to identify a “safety” but nearly impossible to identify a “match,” because all the colleges that bracket your score have low base admission rates. Think of that college as a “reach” and plan accordingly. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications. </p>

<p>ACT score percentile ranks: </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.act.org/news/data/08/pdf/two.pdf[/url]”>http://www.act.org/news/data/08/pdf/two.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>What Token said, but I’ll add that when you look at a 50th percentile range for the top colleges keep in mind that about 40% of those accepted are hooked: recruited athletes, URM’s, legacies and development. Those groups are often admitted wth lower scores leaving the remaining 60% to bring the scores up.</p>

5

<p>wait, so is the Common Data Set the ACTUAL information on students who were admitted?</p>

6

<p>The Common Data Set </p>

<p>[Common</a> Data Set Initiative](<a href=“http://www.commondataset.org/]Common”>http://www.commondataset.org/) </p>

<p>is based on actual information about students who are ENROLLED. Much of this information has to be gathered for the federal government or for agencies that rate the bonds issued by colleges, so there is a lot of standardization to how the data are gathered.</p>

7

<p>If you don’t beat that range, you get waitlisted.</p>

<p>Trust me, I’m a bro.</p>

8

<p>are you kidding me…?</p>

9

<p>Of course some people at the low end of the range get admitted; that’s why the low end of the range is where it is.</p>

10

<p>I dont get why then college put up that range on CollegeBoard even though their admitted range is way higher.</p>

11

<p>Standardization of data-gathering rules has all colleges report ENROLLED class figures to the Common Data Set, as they must to the federal government. Colleges put other figures up on their own websites to mislead applicants and gain bragging rights.</p>

12

<p>token – Your post #3 should be stickied and placed at the top of every student forum on this board.</p>

13

<p>okay i kind of get it.</p>

14

<p>I want to bring more emphasis on Tokenadult’s advice of applying to a good safety.
Some peers of mine seem to have not grasped the notion entirely and are now suffering the consequences.</p>

15

<p>i definitely did apply to 3 safety school im just wondering about what these ACT score ranges mean.</p>