Mixing and Matching ACT Sub Scores

<p>Do certain schools take the higher of each subscore if you have taken the exam twice, similar to what most schools do for the SATS? Please be as specific as possible.</p>

<p>By subscores do you mean English, math, reading and science? 'Cause on the ACT each of those tests (except science) has "subscores" (like "rhetorical skills" and "usage/mechanics")--which nobody pays any attention to.</p>

<p>yes I mean the 4 major subject areas tested.</p>

<p>i.e. math, english, reading and science, that is</p>

<p>I believe there are i or 2 colleges that do this, but it is far from the norm.</p>

<p>could you be more specific please</p>

<p>I think the schools that I've heard of doing this are Georgia Tech, Wash U, and Rose-Hulman. I'm not sure about those, but I think those are the ones I remember. Most schools will only look at the highest composite ACT score.</p>

<p>My D applied to 9 schools, only 1 school insisted that they would only consider the highest single sitting. That was UNC - CH. Emory, WashU, UMiami, William and Mary, UGA all said they would take the highest sub score in each section to get the highest composite.</p>

<p>From the majority of schools that said they would mix and match, how did you learn that they would do that? That info does not appear on most websites. Please advise, and thanks for your reply</p>

<p>And, ThatMom, please confirm you are referring to the ACT, not the SAT</p>

<p>I am indeeding referring to the ACT. The colleges that I cited all stated this in their info sessions. I know that UGA does exactly that because on their application status page it shows the ACT/SAT scores submitted and the composite ACT was the one that was "mixed and matched". UMiami was quite honest in saying by doing so it also helps them look better by using the higher score.</p>

<p>By the way, my daughter only applied with her ACT scores (we are in SAT country) and has been very succesful. </p>

<p>William and Mary said that they had found that about 1/3 of students score better on the ACT, 1/3 do better on the SAT and 1/3 perform about the same on both tests.</p>

<p>Thanks for your quick reply</p>

<p>Cornell (CALS at least) and Washington University says they will look at the best composite as well as the highest subject area scores from different tests. This is not a true "superscore" but seems pretty close. Yale says the highest composite is the most important, but they will also look at subset breakdowns from different tests. I interpret this to mean that Yale is not as big on the mix and match as Cornell and Wash U., but they still take subset scores into consideration.</p>

<p>P.S. I received my information from email responses sent by admissions reps at each of these schools.</p>

<p>Anyone know about other top schools?</p>

<p>Anhydrosis, from an information session at Cornell this did not seem to be true. They said they wrote on the card that admissions officers see the highest composite ACT score and the highest of each of the 3 sections of the SATs.</p>

<p>Here's what my email response from CALS says, "We look at each individual score, not just the total score. Therefore, we will evaluate your highest English, math, reading and science score."</p>

<p>CAS or another college may not use the same standard; I don't know. I was interested in applying to CALS and directed my specific ACT question to CALS Admissions.</p>

<p>which school is CALS?</p>

<p>CALS stand for College of Agriculture & Life Sciences.</p>

<p>I applied to engineering. That's weird...I would have retaken ACTs if I knew that :( Oh well, I'm happy with CMU.</p>