I’m a junior and I recently took the ACT. I have until Thursday to choose what colleges, if any, to send the free reports. I think I did well but don’t want to be too confident. Now I know this kind of sounds naive, but if a school says they only consider your highest scores, do they mean it? UChicago says they only consider your highest scores, so would it be safe to send the test I just took? or could it still hinder my application competitiveness in future?
I have the same question - but no answers! Its hard to pass up the free reports…
Colleges assert that they use the higher test scores and do not hold lower scores against you. Nevertheless, unless cost of sending is a serious issue, many recommend that you not send scores as a junior before learning of the scores. It is not just an issue of whether the colleges should be believed (probably they should be believed), but one that there is always some, albeit very small, risk that colleges may change their mind and adopt and publish new guidelines allowing consideration of lower scores before you apply to college next fall.
I agree with @drusba – I would advise waiting to see the scores and then deciding if they should be sent. I hold a grudge against these testing companies that only send the scores for free before you know them. It reminds me of having to order school pictures of my kids before I’ve even seen them!!!
I would agree with not sending IF you know you can afford the cost. I grew up in a low income home so that would not have been an option for me. I believe schools can be trusted to do what they say on their web sites. If they wanted to use all scores they would say that (and some do).
I’ve written a book on selective college admissions and here is what I advise students to do. If you already have a fairly well developed list of colleges and you are certain to apply to your state flagship university and have several other safety schools you can send free scores to these schools but never send free scores to a target or reach college that will allow you later to use score choice/SAT or only send your best scores/ACT. It is tempting to save money and take advantage of sending the scores for free but you will be spending $75/each or so to apply to colleges later anyway so why run the risk of sending scores that don’t reflect your best work?
I ended up sending to 2 schools that are CLEARLY safeties and 2 reaches that require ALL test scores.