<p>I took the ACT cold sophomore year and got a 36 composite, which I was really surprised by, and I thought I was all set in terms ACT testing. It turns out that Illinois makes us juniors take the PSAE, which is basically the ACT. It's paid for by the state, and the test is legit and the scores count for colleges. I was searching online about sending test scores, and found that some colleges like Yale make you send all your ACT scores. I talked to my councilor about this and she said if I get a worse score on the PSAE I shouldn't worry because I can just chose not to send it. Then I told her about Yale and she told me that those types of colleges are really rare and she's never heard of having to send all your ACT scores before. :(
So in 2 weeks I have to take the test, and I can either man up and take it again (and hope I don't mess up), or I can find a list of top colleges that make you send all your ACT scores and go to some administrator in our school in hopes of getting out of taking the test. Taking the ACT again won't help me at all, since there's not much I could improve, so I was hoping some of you guys would help me decide what to do, or give me a list for some top colleges that have this rule about sending test scores.
I'm pretty sure most ivy leagues do this, but I don't want to look like a liar pulling facts out of nowhere. So far i have :
Yale
Columbia(Highest Composite)
CalTech(General Trends)</p>
<p>There are actually many colleges that require you to report all scores including all ACTs but it is still a minority. Of the ivies Penn, Yale, Cornell and Columbia require you to report all scores including ACT scores. The other ivies accept score choice. Stanford requires you to report all scores. You need to check each college to which you might apply because the rules vary among the all scores colleges; for example some of them require all SAT scores but you can send only one ACT.</p>
<p>If the colleges are to be believed, having a lower score will not be used against you. They all profess to use for admission that test with highest composite score or, for some, the highest section scores from multiple tests. Many have a hard time convincing themselves that is true.</p>
<p>Note, despite the above, there is serious question as to whether you will have to submit the Illinois test score to colleges. In January, the Illinois government agency that administers that Illinois test announced that because the legislature had not provided enough funding the agency is cutting costs by giving ACT tests this year without the writing section. Since a lot of colleges require the writing section if you submit an ACT, the Illinois administrators have effectively made it necessary for most high school students who intend to apply to college to take an another ACT test and not just the one for Illinois. </p>
<p>That act of bureaucratic stupidity (for which Illinois government agencies are usually well known) may actually resolve your issue. Though it is true that places like Yale, Penn, Cornell, etc. require you to send all scores, they also say that if you send an ACT it must be one with writing. They will thus not use the Illinois ACT for admission and that could also mean you should not even send it – in other words the colleges (which are also bureaucratic institutions prone to cause confusion) have provided contradictory information stating in one breath they want all scores and in the other that they don’t want ACT scores without a writing section leaving it to the student to choose which rule he is supposed to follow.</p>
<p>Many thanks for the quick reply. So it turns out complicated bureaucracies are actually good for something! This takes off a lot of pressure on me right now, though I’ll be sure to study up. I’ve heard a lot of fuss about the whole “submit all your scores, but we’ll only superscore” thing. Again, thanks for the help.</p>