I was thinking. I figure some schools that have low admissions rates have that because a bunch of people with low ACT’s apply for the fun of it. However I know there are also some schools where I can imagine that almost everyone that apply
s is around the average ACT.
How can I figure this out when seeing how competitive a college is to get into?
Look at the stats in section C of the schools’ “common data sets”. They show the range of GPA/test scores of enrolling freshmen. Thus, you can eliminate the “hail mary” applicants and focus on where you lie on that spectrum.
For very selective schools (<20% admit rate), they’re still rejecting tons of kids even on the high end of that spectrum – but that’s how it goes.
I agree that mining the common data set for info can indicate what a low “fun” ACT score is at a specific institution, but it doesn’t yield the stats for the entire applicant pool that OP is looking for. Most private schools shy away from disclosing that characteristic of the pool because it might discourage applications in the following cycle. Some public schools might be required to disclose all ACT scores; that would be a question of state law and regulation.
Here’s a good example of useful stats from a selective school.
https://admission.princeton.edu/applyingforadmission/admission-statistics
87.2% of 2300-2400SAT scorers rejected. gulp!
Interesting Princeton doesn’t give the same breakdown for ACT scores, just the middle 50%.
So OP, a “fun” SAT for Princeton is any below 1700 (on 2400 scale).