I have taken the ACT one time, the June date right after my sophomore year.
I scored a 34 composite and an 08 on writing.
I want to be as competitive as possible a candidate to ivies et al.
My reach (Wharton) requires that info from ALL testing sessions be presented. A 34 is at about the 75th percentile for their most recent accepted class.
Will having a “one hit wonder” help me stick out? Or should I go for a perfect, and improve my writing?
I know for sure I can score a 10 or so. I don’t know for SURE that I can score 35/36.
This question gets asked a lot and I’m not sure there’s a right answer. 34 is very good and there’s no guarantee you’re going to get a better comprehensive score on the next exam, no matter how much you prepare. The curve gets pretty tight at the upper levels. Would the time you spent preparing for the ACT be better used in another way? Are your grades fairly perfect? With great grades, I’m not sure how much of bump 35 or 36 gives you over the also great score of 34. If you’re grades are marginal for Penn, then it might be worth a shot to retake. Still, 34 is very good and it’s likely that your admission will come down to other factors. You’ve definitely cleared the bar on the standardized testing piece. Good luck.
8 is a bit low, but it should not break your application. However, I would consider retaking with an essay score of 6 or lower.
I did not take the ACT essay, but I scored 8 both times on the SAT essay. Essays on standardized tests are generally not a very good predictor of writing ability, and other factors can compensate, e.g. good scores in English classes, or good application essays.
I think most elite schools don’t give a flying fig about the writing score on either the ACT or the SAT, good or bad. That’s probably why SAT is going to get rid of it, if the rumors are true. As I have said in numerous responses to the same question by other posters, my children scored 33 and 34 and both retook based on their tutor’s method, which is, always retake the ACT at least once because in most cases it won’t hurt you (because you can choose to not report bad scores) and in some cases it will help you with superscoring schools. (My children both scored a point higher the second time and significantly improved their subscores.) But if you feel like your subscores are where you’d like them to be and you’re worried about having to report a bad score to Wharton, there’s no point in taking it again. If you check out each school other than Wharton that you are thinking of applying to to figure out their ACT subscoring and reporting policies, that will help you refine further your thinking of the cost-benefit of taking again. You also took the ACT when you were pretty young, did you study much? The writing sections especially are easier to improve upon through practice. I think there is data showing some improvement in scores if you take it very early the first time. You’re playing the odds, here; I’m not saying it will never hurt you, but the odds are stacked in your favor to help you, so in most cases you might as well roll the dice again.
Honestly, I don’t feel like you have anything to lose by taking it again. Getting a 34 cold can translate into a 35 or even a 36 with a bit of concentrated studies… However a 34 is quite a good score, you do not need to retake it to be considered by any college, regardless of tier, assuming the rest of your (future) application is strong.
TLDR: Retake it unless you REALLY don’t want to. Can’t hurt. But you are by no means have to, even for top colleges.