Does my ACT score screw my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>I took the ACT for the first time in June and just checked my scores online.</p>

<p>Here they are:</p>

<p>ACT Composite 29 </p>

<p>English 31
Mathematics 27
Reading 34
Science 23 </p>

<p>As you can see I did awesome on Reading and English, but somehow completely bombed on math and science. I honestly do not see how I could have done so poorly, especially on science. Should I request a handscoring? Could there be an error? Do faint pencil marks or smudges mess anything up?</p>

<p>Is the fact that I got only a 23 on science going to screw me over completely? What about the composite? and the math score?</p>

<p>Im extremely stressed out, and could use any reassurance and advice you guys might have :(</p>

2

<p>A 29 ACT score is very good. As for your 23 in science, if you <em>feel</em> like you did just as well, you may have done something like had an "off by one" error, where you wrote the answer to #3 in #4, #4 in #5, etc. I think that'd be the most likely explanation. As for as I know, there's nothing you can do about such an error. Even with the low science score, the mid-50% ACT scores are 26-30 so it shouldn't hurt your chances of admissions. Anyone looking at your subscores will know that you're a solid test-taker for the rest and may suspect something bad may have happened in the science section rather than you not knowing the correct answers.</p>

<p>When I took the ACT, I got a 28 and 29. The difference between my lowest and highest subscore was 6 and 5, respectively. I'd imagine a 10-point difference like yours would definitely be unusual.</p>

3

<p>r u ****in kidding me kid, whats wrong with u, ur a shoe in with ur ACT score, why r u stressing urself out??</p>

4

<p>Umardar, a 29 will not "hurt" the OP's chances...but he isn't a shoe-in either. If he has a solid 3.8+ unweighed GPA and applies early, he has a good chance, but Michigan rejects many students with 30+ on the ACT, so he certainly has a chances, but he isn't guaranteed anything.</p>

5

<p>yea true lol, i was just pretty angry that the kid was upset with his "29" score</p>

6

<p>What will give me better chances at admission:</p>

<p>A) I keep my 29, do take the ACT again, and simply apply early as possible. </p>

<p>B) I retake the ACT in October, more than likely getting a much better score, say 32-33. But I will be applying later, so I will not have the benefit of applying early.</p>

<p>Which would be best?</p>

<p>By the way, as far as GPA goes, I have around a 3.8+ unweighted. I also have an upward trend, I received a 4.0 unweighted Junior year. Great reccomendations, and decent EC's. Because of a few reasons my courseload has been less than 'advanced' - my senior year however, I will be taking 4 AP classes, a few honor classes etc. - the hardest courseload offered by my school. I am confident I will do well in all my classes next year, but I am kind of worried that my courseload up to now has not been hard enough. Will this hurt me significantly?</p>

<p>BTW the reasons that up till my senior year I took regular classes and not AP or honors are the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>freshman and sophmore year I went to a private school that did not offer any AP or honor classes, and if they did, only offered them to seniors. the regular classes were extremely difficult however, at least the level of honors classes at 'regular' highschools.</li>
<li>then junior year I transferred to my current school. since I was a recent transfer they basically made me take regular classes and not AP classes. I excelled in them however (aforementioned 4.0) and was often told by my teachers that I belonged in higher level classes (I got over a 100% in 4 of my classes both semesters, rest extremely high A's) Now my english teacher plans to mention this in her reccomendation, saying that I am at the top of my class, better than the kids in the AP lang classes etc.; which I hope will help some. I am also being allowed to take all the AP classes next year without certain prereqs because of this (straight to AP lit without AP lang etc) But the fact remains they are not going to see any honors or AP classes for my Junior year.</li>
</ul>

<p>Im really kind of stressed about all of this, and trying to make the best of a crappy situation. Any ideas, thoughts, reccomendations, anything, would be extremely appreciated.</p>

<p>(that was a long 'by the way' haha)</p>

7

<p>In my opinion you take the thing again and try to get better and apply a little later and take as many AP classes senior year as you can handle. I know it is stressful when you move, a similar thing happened to me when I moved before junior year. My first HS didn't have a lot of AP classes so my class rank was worse than what it should have been. I applied around October as well which isn't too late, so if you really think you can improve about 3-4 pts on the ACT then go for it. </p>

<p>Are you out-of-state or in-state? Cause if you're in-state I say just apply asap and you are almost certainly in, but if you're out-of-state take the ACT over.</p>

8

<p>I am in-state.</p>

9

<p>then just apply early and even though you're not a shoe-in you're as close as you can be w/o being one. So apply early, try to write decent essay, get good recs, and you should be good to go.</p>

10

<p>I just saw in another thread that being first generation, as well as 'low income' can significantly help your admissions.</p>

<p>I am both, so just how much is this going to help me when applying to Michigan?</p>

<p>Also, will it increase my chances enough to go to any decent private schools?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>edit: both parents graduated by receiving GED's as well, though I do not know if that affects anything</p>