Does he REALLY need to take ACT again?

Applying to College
1

<p>My S is putting together a very solid set of stats for his applications: 4.0 UW, 750+ average on SATIIs, 10 APs, with 4&5s on the tests, etc.</p>

<p>He took the ACT once, as a sophomore and got a 32 and 8 essay. It was one of his first standardized test experiences. But with APs, PSAT, and SATIIs, he has a lot more experience, and his performance shows it.</p>

<p>He just took the ACT as part of state standardized testing, and got a 36 (Yippee!). But it did not include the writing section. </p>

<p>So that 8 from the first ACT session would be his writing score, and I think he would likely score 10+ today.</p>

<p>His reach schools are Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, Pomona.</p>

<p>I suppose that he could take the ACT again, just for the writing score, but that seems excessive. </p>

<p>He will be taking the SAT I in a couple weeks, and I fully expect the scores to match his recent solid performances. But even then, the bulk of the evidence will contradict the 8 on AP essay, the question of whether to bump it up will remain. In the bigger scheme of things, I view it as a waste of time, effort and money. But the bigger scheme is not the game we are playing here.</p>

<p>I appreciate the responses. I am not typically achievement-obsessive, but since his reaches are schools with 10% admission rates, it sometimes seems like only the obsessive survive.</p>

2

<p>For Duke, who requires the ACT with writing, we were told that they look at one test composite with writing. They do not superscore. My daughter took the ACT for the first time and did very well on the writing, not as well on composite. She specifically asked if she could just take the ACT again, without writing and was told that they will only consider composite scores with writing. Not sure about other schools, you can always send an email to admissions of schools you are interested in and see what their policy is.</p>

3

<p>If he gets a good essay score on the SAT don’t worry about it. I had the same Writing score with a 35 on the ACT and got a 10 on the essay portion of the SAT (2330), and got into Yale and Princeton. I’m white and non-athlete.</p>

<p>Keep in mind you’ll be sending them a Writing sample–your essay–so if you show at least one good writing score on the SAT or ACT they’ll be able to get a feel for the quality of a writer your s is.</p>

<p>Tell him to study for the writing though. Its important (I didn’t realize) because they want you to write your essay in a very specific way that goes beyond just proper grammar and fluidity.</p>

4

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<p>That sounds like most of the people accepted at Princeton and Yale.</p>

5

<p>^^ only the white part is true. most of them are in 1 varsity sport minimum. At times it almost seems like a pre-req. Being white on the other hand…well I doubt that does anything for you.</p>

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<p>Athletics are not really an EC option for him. Our family motto, when it comes to sports, is “we may be small, but we’re slow.”</p>

7

<p>Wait what? You think most of the people accepted to Princeton an Yale are white and non-athletes?</p>

<p>I was a high school athlete (Football, Wrestling), just not a recruited athlete. Princeton and Yale are going to have just as many (College) athletes as any school their size, because they have as many sports teams as other schools.</p>

8

<p>If he’s pleased with his SAT score, there’s no reason to take the ACT again, but I don’t know of any school that accepts the ACT without writing, and the ACT isn’t superscored–generally, colleges consider the highest composite.</p>

9

<p>I am not sure I entirely agree with you. Kenyon, for example, takes ACT w/out writing. The new Common App for 2010-11 asks you to list best scores by date taken–clearly making superscoring the norm rather than the exception (schools interested in single setting scores will need to extract them from the testing service report.)</p>

<p>We didn’t expect him to do well on this test. It came in the middle of AP and SATII test season so was not a study priority. We figured he would take the ACT with writing in the future, and get something like a 34/10W. But now that he has this 36 w/out writing, I am unsure how to showcase it the best and also meet the schools’ requirements.</p>

10

<p>If he does well on the SAT, I don’t think that earlier ACT will matter at all.</p>