I have lots of schools I would like to apply to, with some examples being Emory and UNC. However, my ACT score is not as high as I hoped it would be, sitting at a composite score of 31 with a writing score of 9. Especially this year, I know I can choose whether I want them to consider my score or not, but I have no clue if I should have them consider it since I know it is pretty low compared to the other students that will be applying to the schools. Should I add it or not?
hmm i need more background with your EC’s and your gpa to give a better opinion on whether or not you should submit your ACT score because let’s say if you have a low GPA you can try and compensate that with your ACT score. it’s fairly high and i think you should just give it a shot at highly selective institutions, this year is very unpredictable and college applications are somewhat of a gamble anyways.
My weighted is about a 4.4 weighted / 3.83 unweighted and I have about 7 out of 10 activities filled, with all 5 honors filled on my Common App application if that helps you understand a little bit better. My gpa isn’t on the higher side which is why I’m conflicted, since I don’t think it’s high enough to compensate for a bad ACT score. I’m not sure if taking it out entirely will be a better decision or not.
Look up the average ACT scores on the Common Data Set of the schools to which you are applying. They willshow a 25th and 75th percentile, just take the average of those. If your score is equal to or higher that average of admitted students, go ahead and submit it. If not, apply test optional.
I don’t agree that you should leave off a really good test score because your have a good GPA, or that a low test score is OK if your GPA is also low.
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Honestly, I think you should just submit your test score. There’s no harm in doing so, but I don’t think colleges will care much about your test scores this year since lots of them are going test-optional anyways which means the weightage won’t be high.
That’s simply not true.
Why do you say that may I ask? I’m genuinely curious as I am also debating sending test scores.
I wouldn’t send the, if you think the rest of your application is strong, there is some indication that colleges are comparing TO applicants vs each other and test-submitters vs each other. If the 31 is low in your hs, don’t send.
One school of thought is that TO is for those who couldn’t take the test. If you could, or had to as a graduation requirement and you don’t submit your score, this could be a slight negative. However, I have no hard proof of that (or of the opposite opinion).
I doubt admissions know which school requires the SAT or ACT to graduate, and even if they did, you could just say I didn’t want to go to the school for safety reasons.
Admissions Officers have consistently rated standardized test scores as the second most important factor in college admissions, behind high school GPA/course rigor. Just because they have been forced by circumstances to allow some to apply without that data doesn’t mean they are going to ignore it. Test Optional is very different from Test Blind, which is the policy of only a small number of schools.
Statements like “if you feel you test scores enhance your application, you should submit them” are on many web sites. Two students with the exact same GPA, ECs, etc - one that aubmits a 1590 SAT and one that submits nothing - do you really thing the 1590 will be meaningless?
Similarly, two identical profiles to MIT, but one submits a 690/690 and the other submits nothing - do you think a Math SAT that has a 0.00% admit rate last year wouldn’t negatively impact the application vs. not sending it?
Another viewpoint
(URL banned - just search " Why SAT and ACT Scores Still Matter as Test-Optional Choices Rise")
Isn’t is the reason why AOs specialize in certain regions, or even cities - to know more about local schools?
It would be difficult for a hs to enforce the standardized test requirement, and even more difficult for a college to figure out which high schools could do it. And all an applicant has to say is that they planned to take the act/say in spring jr year or fall yr and covid prevented it. My advice is that for a school like Emory or UNC OOS, not to submit, for others to view the 25/75 percentile as Richin Pitt suggested.
It depends. You only want to submit this score if it helps, not hurts. So for UNC, the score is about average. For Emory, it’s a bit below average. It appears that your score kind of lines up with your GPA.
So, will it help, or hurt? I think I would only submit it to Emory if they might think that your score would have been lower than that. Why might they think that? They might think that if you were coming from a school where test scores tend to be low, such as an inner city non-magnet school, or a rural school from a state with poor education. If that were the case, then you might want to include that score, because even if it’s a little low for, say, Emory, if you are an URM coming from an inner city school with low academic standards, that 31 says, “This person can do the work here, we can take her.” Of if you’re coming from a rural school known to have very low academic standards, the 31 says the same thing. But if you come from a suburban school known to have high academic standards, where the average ACT is 31 or higher, I would not recommend that you send that score.
Your ACT score places you 4 points above the 25th percentile for UNC. For this school, at least, it would appear that you should submit it.