<p>Apparently, everyone else on here is taking the SAT to get into UMich. I’ve been informed you CAN take the ACT. But is that only in-state? I mean, I’m still a Sophmore, but I only want to know if I HAVE to take the SAT or if I could take the ACT instead. (because I’m out-of-state)</p>
<p>(I have a REALLY hard time explaining things, so bear with me here!)</p>
<p>My son took the ACT and was accepted. We live in Ohio. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thank you SO much!</p>
<p>I was either going to take the ACT twice next academic year or take each test once, so you helped TONS. =]</p>
<p>chae5192...you might want to take each test once and see how you do, then decide if you want to take one a second time. A lot of times people will tend do better on one or the other. My daughter took both because we weren't sure at the time if some of her schools she was applying to would require one or the other and her list of schools wasn't complete. Turns out she was able to use her ACT's at all her schools.</p>
<p>chae-
You might want to reconsider the "only taking each test once thing". I would also seriously discourage making plans based on the requirements of only one school. All of us who have had kids go through this process can tell you that with so many schools requiring different things, you should of course satisfy their requirements, but in the end, do the best for yourself. By the way, I know UMich accepts the ACT because D took the ACT and got an audition for UMich. (Ended up cancelling though, because she got admitted to one of her top choices before the audition.) In our experience, every school accepted the ACT, and many preferred it.
I would also suggest taking one test several times. Some schools actually take the best subscore for each area no matter how many times you take it, and then figure their own composite (total) score. (Many Florida schools do this.)They use this number for academic scholarships AND getting into the honors programs . Also, at most of the schools D auditioned, the academic scholarship possibilities were much higher than the possible talent scholarships. For my D, one point made a $16,000 per year difference at one school.
She also decided NOT to report her scores to her high school or any colleges on the day she took the test. (Her high school immediately puts all reported test results on the transcript.) This way, SHE controlled which schools got which results. At one place, they "looked down" on taking the test multiple times, so she only reported two sets of scores to that school.
You have the option of having your high school receive the scores (or keeping them confidential). You also have that same option with colleges. The only difference is that if you designate the highschool and colleges when you take the test, it is free for a certain number of schools. If you keep it confidential and request after you have seen your scores, there is a fee for each request. (Can't remember exactly, but its around $9-$11 ? per school.) But with the amounts of money you can end up getting, I would recommend sending scores later and paying the amount so you can be shown in your best light.
Also, the sections are not all the same difficulty level, and sometimes, especially in science, depending on the questions you get, you can do extremely well or not as well. She also said taking them multiple times made so much sense to her because after the first time, she wasn't nervous at all.
Here is why I say take the test multiple times. Everytime D took the ACT, she got at least 2 more points in one subscore area. (math, science, reading, english). For the schools that take the highest score from each area, this made her composite really high! Unfortunately sometimes she scored lower in other sub areas so it cancelled out and her overall score didn't go as high as it could have for the schools that will only take your best composite.) However, from the first time to the last, her overall composite went up 3 points which was huge because she was right at the nice scholarship/REALLY nice scholarship cutoff.
Good luck with the search! I must say I am SO glad that it is OVER!!!</p>
<p>mama02
Thanks for your helpful comments. We are just signing up for SAT and ACT and your comments about sending the scores are very helpful.</p>
<p>Mama02, I know most of the other schools' requirements. I'm just really iffy with the public ones.</p>
<p>And I think I'm going to take the SAT once and the ACT twice if I can. I'm trying to get a REALLY high score because of scholarships (my composite score on the general ACT last year was 25, and I'm hoping to raise that).</p>
<p>Our high school has had kids go to UMich MT and submit just the ACT. It seems to be more common in the midwest.</p>
<p>I can't stress the following point enough. Make sure you follow up with the SAT and ACT scores being sent to the university. I naively assumed when registering that requesting the scores to be sent to the colleges was enough.
It nearly cost my daughter a scholarship.</p>
<p>What do you mean by "following up"?</p>
<p>Just call the admissions office and make sure they receive your scores.</p>
<p>Oh! </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>llong39's comment is applicable to every aspect of the application process. It is very important to follow up with everything that gets sent to all schools. Every 2 weeks after something is sent, check to make sure it was received and logged in. Some schools, you can do this online; others you need to call the admissions office. The number of schools that claimed not to have received a teacher recommendation, transcript or even a Common App Supplement (which was mailed with the Common App which was "received") was surprising. Schools are inundated with applications and things get lost. Check frequently so that you do not get jammed up with time cutoffs.</p>