<p>Son took the ACT back in June and did better than he expected, but feels improvement can still be made. He did not report the score to any colleges as he did not have a college list yet.</p>
<p>He is registering to re-take and is questioning whether to authorize sending his next score to his college list (thereby saving $40) until he knows the outcome. I guess the question is, if he by chance has a lower score the second time around (22% do according to ACT stats), and we decide to pay to have the first score sent follow-up do schools ignore the lower score and just look at the highest score achieved?</p>
<p>Also, if you send a score to a school, but have not started an application, do they just hold the score report until an application arrives to match up to that score report?</p>
<p>Most schools we have researched say they will use your highest composite score and I believe some will look at sub-scores for certain majors (math for engineering) and course placement. I know it’s hard to send a lower score and fortunately my daughters highest composite also has her highest sub-scores. I would guess that they hold the score report be we have always done it the other way around; send application first and then all supporting materials.</p>
<p>This really can only be decided based on your finances. I always recommend seeing your score before sending it out like you did the first time. Your child may do worse the second time ( could not feel well that day, be tired etc. ) so why send that out before seeing the score unless finances are an issue? Some schools look at all scores sent to them in making admissions decisions and others only have top scores recorded on folders before making decisions, but I doubt you will know the intricacies of each admissions office that you are dealing with. Of course another important factor is your high school transcript. If all scores are listed there, they will probably be seen anyway so it is a moot point. If you can elect to not have scores on the transcript, then I would wait and just send your best scores if you can afford to do it. I do believe scores can arrive before applications and colleges are equipt to deal with that.</p>