I took the ACT three times between April and June, only to score three 33’s.
I took it for the last time in September and scored a 36 (all sections 36 except for 35 in science).
I’m applying to CMU SCS (possibly ED), which I understand is especially competitive and requires all ACT scores, but I’ve also heard that I can delete an ACT score with them never knowing that I took it. People say that 3+ attempts is generally looked down upon by selective colleges, and may hurt my chances. Should I delete my first score or is it not necessary? Will my four attempts demonstrate dedication or excessive focus on testing? I don’t think my GPA is as high as the average CMU SCS accepted student, so doing well on the ACT was important for me.
Why can’t you just send your last score? I don’t see where CMU requires all testing results. Also did you take SAT subject tests? I think you will need those as well for SCS.
Keep in mind that SCS is truly a reach for everyone, and they decline loads of people with perfect standardized scores across the board. I understand that that for SCS prefers students who have proven math competencies, such as through participation in AIME testing. So if you have that, it may weigh more heavily than the ACTs.
It says on the CMU website:
“All applicants are required to submit all official results* of either the old SAT Reasoning Test/SAT Test or the ACT Test”.
I’m planning on competing in USACO in December, so I may choose regular over early, but they also greatly value interest as they have high turnover against schools like MIT.
OK well if you need to submit all official results, than you need to submit all official results. Deleting a result and then not submitting it would not really comply with that requirement.
CMU actually doesn’t consider interest anymore. I made a previous thread on the CMU section about that. Also, even back when they did consider interest, it didn’t weight that heavily. My son got in RD with a half tuition scholarship, having shown very limited interest (no campus visit). Applying there was a last minute decision after he didn’t get into his ED choice. He attends there now (not SCS).
Also it is my impression that CMU doesn’t give much of an advantage to early decision.
I say you should delete the older, lower ACT test score(s). I did this with my junior D and it took about 3 weeks from start to finish to get it removed from their system. Make sure your school does not have the old scores included on your transcript. Congrats on the 36 Composite and good luck with CMU!
I see no problem with deleting scores. It’s a test you took on your own time and paid for out of your own pocket. The scores are identical, so it’s not like you’re hiding anything.
I would leave the first 33 and delete the last 33 (or the last two 33’s).
Do you know if the ACT scores are reported on your high school transcript? Many high schools do this.
Deleting an ACT has nothing to do with being “illegal”. However, if a University asks for all ACT scores, and you delete one of them and don’t report it, that is going against their stated rules in the application. Presumably, the university would have a right to rescind an acceptance under those circumstances if you were discovered. It would be the same if I as an employer asked a certain question on an application, and somebody lied on their application. Even if they think I have no way of finding out the truth, there could be consequences far down the line. The lie on the application could allow me to rescind any commitments I made as an employer.
So for example, a few years ago Penn applicants had to report ALL SAT and ACT scores. Sure a family could only pay to send the SATs, but not the ACT. That would be not complying with the requirements. If it later came out that there were unsent SAT scores, for example, that would go against the application requirements and could be grounds to alter acceptance.
As any fyi, my D deleted a freshman year ACT score during her sophomore year of HS. I highly doubt that a university would rescind an acceptance for a score that is no longer traceable within the ACT records. It would be no different than if the ACT decided to remove/invalidate one of your scores. You surely wouldn’t report that! I would think that to report a score that does not exist with the ACT would be unethical.
“All applicants are required to submit all official results* of either the old SAT Reasoning Test/SAT Test or the ACT Test”.
CMU’s direction to submit “all official results” is unambiguous.
Further, when applying through the Common App, one of the certifications that a student must give is as follows: “I certify that all information submitted in the admission process – including this application and any other supporting materials – is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented, and that these documents will become the property of the institution to which I am applying and will not be returned to me. I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree should the information I have certified be false.”
Deleting a score when a school requires all scores be reported is not an “honestly presented” application IMO.
It is perfectly fine to delete scores, it is not in any way dishonest, and doing so would not violate CMU’s requirement to report all ACT scores (you are required to report valid not invalid scores). However, that is not the key issue relating to whether you can delete. If you intend to apply ED to CMU, the application deadline is Nov 1. I assume you will be applying a little before then if you choose to do ED. The main issue you actually have is whether you can accomplish a full deletion before you need to send scores. The ACT process for deleting is not quick. You need to have ACT send you a form that you then fill out and mail back and then it can take some tome before actual deletion occurs. You might be able to get it done before you send scores but might not. Also, asnoted above you cannot delete a test if it was a stae required rather than national test.
Also, you have a second deletion issue. There are many high schools that put all your test scores on your official high school transcript sent to colleges. You need to know what your high school does and whether you can do anything about it if it usually provides all your scores on the teanscript. After one has successfully deleted an ACT score with ACT, it mails notice to the high school that the score has been deleted and is no longer reliable. A high school may follow that notice and remove your score from the transcript if it usually includes it but that ACT notice in your case may not show up at your high school until after Nov 1.
In essence, you may attempt to delete but it might not happen in time to apply ED to CMU, and your high school may have the final say as to whether your transcript includes the scores.
As someone who has been faculty at several universities, I would personally consider it unethical to delete and not submit scores if the University does not allow score choice. If the OP wants to know how CMU admissions would construe this, he or she should call them and ask.
There are only five colleges left that still require all ACTs if you submit ACTs: Georgetown, Cornell, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, and Barnard. Those colleges are fully aware that ACT allows deletion of scores but state no rule that you are prohibited from deleting scores before applying, Those colleges also require official reports of the test scores which are impossible to get if a score has been deleted.
I see nothing unethical about it. Example: a student takes three ACT tests, one in freshman year, one in sophomore year, and one in junior year, and decides in junior year to delete the first two. Come the fall of the senior year, that student decides to apply to Carnegie Mellon. Is he to be prohibited from applying even though he may not have decided to try for CMU until senior year? If the college does not specifically state a rule prohibiting deletion in its admissions materials, the college cannot validly claim there is one. Moreover, there is no reason to call for clarification because if the college admissions person actually says over the phone that you are not allowed to delete, then it is the college that is the unethical and dishonest party for failure to expressly state the rule in the admission materials so every applicant can understand what the rules actually are.
@drusba, IMO, ethics aren’t situational. These schools don’t say that only scores that aren’t deleted should of be reported . They say all scores should be reported. If a school wants all scores, that is part of their application requirement. Period. Just because the ACT organization allows deletion of scores it doesn’t mean that doing so is OK for those schools - in fact the opposite seems to be true when their stated policy is that all scores - deleted or not - be reported.
@suzy100, I have no problem with someone disagreeing with my conclusion but I stand by it. If a college is not clear on what is required in its admission materials, then it cannot hold against you the failure to do something that is not clearly spelled out. Moreover, you say the colleges are clear about requiring all scores, “deleted or not.” A score once deleted is by definition (ACT’s definition) no longer an “official” score that can be provided to the college or used to determine admission. Check exactly what CMU says: “All applicants are required to submit all official results of either the old SAT Reasoning Test/SAT Test or the ACT Test.” One can very reasonably construe that to mean it requires only "official"results and thus excludes deleted tests.
The only reason some colleges want to see all scores is to determine which kids got high scores the first or second time versus 4 or 5 times. Deleting older scores and only submitting some defeats the whole purpose of requiring “all scores”. If you don’t like their rules, then apply to other colleges that don’t require all scores but to delete the old scores is dishonest and not fair to the kids who did not delete their scores and/or kids who scored high with only a first and maybe second sitting. IMO, deleting scores is the definition of dishonesty.
