The Meaning of ACT Scores

Applying to College
1

<p>If I get Composite score of 28 on the ACT, which universities do I have a chance at? How about 29 or 30? (Assuming I have a 3.7 UW gpa with decent ECs and essays).</p>

2

<p>That’s a pretty vague question. Be more specific? Cuz technically, you have a chance <em>anywhere</em></p>

3

<p>Oh, I’m looking at schools like boston univ, umich, univ of illinois urbana champaign, univ of wisconsin madison, and univ of texas austin.</p>

4

<p>I don’t know if this helps. We are Wisconsin residents and my son goes to a high school in the greater Madison area. Our high school guidance office has a scattergram showing the GPAs and ACTs of students from my son’s high school who applied for admission to the UW-Madison class of 2011 and the average accepted GPA from my son’s high school for the class of 2011 was a 3.83 and the average accepted ACT was 29. From the scattergram, it looks like you have a good chance of being accepted at UW-Madison with an ACT of 28 and a 3.7 GPA, although someone with an ACT of 29 and a GPA of 3.7 was denied, someone with an ACT of 30 and a GPA of 3.75 was denied, and two people with ACTs of 32 and GPAs of 3.6 were waitlisted. It also appears that if you end up with an ACT or GPA lower than you projected, that you would likely be waitlisted–although ECs and Essays are not factored into the scattergram. One accepted student had an ACT of 18 and a GPA of 3.0, but he had a really BIG HOOK. I don’t know if Wisconsin residents get any admission preferences or not. I don’t know about the other schools.</p>

5

<p>Texas OOS would be tough. Very good chance at the rest. maybe 75% in.</p>

<p>The UW site has a probability chart for ACT and GPA. Check it out.</p>

6

<p>What you want to know is contained in the Common Data Set (or CDS) that most universities make available. U of I’s is at
<a href=“http://publicaffairs.uiuc.edu/survey_resources/cds_2006_2007.htm[/url]”>http://publicaffairs.uiuc.edu/survey_resources/cds_2006_2007.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You should read these for all of your schools. A quick summary is also available through the information on collegeboard.com under the individual colege name by selecting “SAT/ACT scores.”</p>

7

<p>Sorry, that last line should indicate the selection as “SAT/AP/CLEP”</p>

8

<p>yes, you do.</p>