My daughter got her ACT scores back today. She took the test for the first time back in October and scored
31C (33E, 31M, 35R, 24S)
She took it again in April and scored
34C (36E, 29M, 36R, 34S)
She’s satisfied with her second score and doesn’t want to take it again. The question I was hoping you could help with: she plans on applying to several highly selective schools that superscore the ACT. Should she send the October test which would boost her math from the upper 20’s to a 31, or is any benefit negated by the fact that the rest of the scores are so much lower?
Her superscore is 34, so that is the same as her latest composite, so no benefit there. A few considerations:
-If she uses the common app, she will report the highest section scores across all tests, as well as her highest composite score. For schools that allow self reporting that will be all she needs to do.
-For schools that require sending formal scores, I would only send the 34. Yes, the math score is lower than in the first test, but I would not let a highly selective school see that 24 in science or even the 31 composite. For many highly selective schools the 31 composite will be below the 25% mark.
-Of course, some schools, like Georgetown, will require sending of all scores.
-If she is looking at a stem major, I might have her take the test one more time to see if she can get the math score up, even though I know she doesn’t want to take it again.
Make sure your D has a reasonable and balanced college list, one that also includes matches and affordable schools with highly likely odds of admission.
Brown and Columbia also do, as well as many highly selective LACs (there are probably more highly selective schools superscoring the ACT than these examples). Note that some schools couch it in terms of ‘we consider the highest scores in each section’, so they may not necessarily recalculate a new composite score.
Send both If they superscore because they will use the highest section scores. For many, particularly if applying for engineering, math or science (which would include nursing), the math score can have particular importance.
If they superscore then they superscore - she will be evaluated with 36E, 31M, 36R, 34S - individual date scores won’t be reviewed if that’s the policy.
I don’t believe Adcoms would see just two 34s. They’ll see a 33.75 and a 34.25. When 75% of (accepted) student have one of 5 scores (32-36), I strongly suspect they view them as the 22 fractional scores in that range to differentiate. The SAT/ACT concordance nicely breaks it down at almost exactly 4:1, so you can equate a 33.75 with 1510 and a 34.25 with 1530.
@lbf Can you elaborate on that? Do you mean they will see the lower scores even if they super score? My understanding is that all the scores sent via ACT get loaded to the colleges student profile (automated) and if they super score, they should only see the superscores. But I’d love some Intel if anyone has it. I know the adcoms can see the score reports if they choose to, but I’m thinking they don’t bother. If the super scores are loaded to the profile, I would think that’s what they use (at least for the schools that say they superscores)
As to loading on the portal that the applicant can see, most colleges load the first SAT or ACT test sent and not those sent thereafter – the main purpose of that online portal is to show you have completed an admission requirement, such as providing a test score, not to show how many tests the college has received from you or which scores they will actually use to determine admission.
As to what is actually in the students computer file that those at the college who make admissions decisions actually see – e.g., do they just see the supserscore – to a great extent that is an unknown.
In any event, as long as you believe colleges are not bold-faced liars (and why apply to them if you do), a college, when it superscores, will use the highest scores to determine admission and not use lower scores against you. The most difficult problem many applicants have is actually believing that is true,
Agree with this. For common app schools that allow self-reporting, the student has much more control over how many tests to report. It also allows the student to report their highest score in all 4 sections, but doesn’t automatically calculate a superscore composite–AOs would have to manually do that.
I have heard AOs say they won’t use lower scores against you. I have also heard just as many AOs say we can’t unsee what you sent us. The latter statement is why I suggested OP not send the ACT test that shows a 24 in science–AOs (and the army of temp application readers many schools use) are only human and subject to the same cognitive biases as everyone else.
If they superscore, send both. It’s a matter of what the school can use for their published stats not about what the adcons “see”, unfortunately (cause that fact suggests the reason for the scores to begin with) . Schools that do superscore in the sense that they “count” the highest component don’t always compute a new total by averaging the highest components-some do. Superscored: 34C (36E, 31M, 36R, 34S)
Yes I’d send both.
When we were on college tours a couple of years ago we asked an AO why not all schools superstore the ACT but they do the SAT. He said that there wasn’t a program that did that for them and that they didn’t want to take the time to do it themselves. I think that has since changed and that there is a program that does this for them that’s why you see more schools super scoring the ACT. There is no way that they would take the time to superstore each applicant by hand. However, I do believe that they will see every score and not just the top ones in each section. I guess unless an AO answers us we will never know exactly what they see and every college could be different.