What ACT is "good enough" for these schools?

What ACT scores would be at least a neutral aspect of my D/S applications for these schools, given the rest of their stats as below? (They each have two sittings this year before applying next Fall). I am try to decide what initial score should prompt us to spend $$$ on test prep (beyond a book and free resources.) And thank you in advance!

Son
GPA: 4.0UW/4.5W
AP: 6 so far, hoping for 6 more Sr. year (nearly all math/science offered at school)
EC: 2 varsity sports, NHS, school service club (hoping for 1-2 officer spots Sr. year), seasonal employment 30 hr/wk
interest: Economics or Business/Finance
CA resident

Schools:
Univ. Washington/Foster
Univ. Georgia/Terry
Indiana Univ./Kelly
Georgia Tech
Univ. Michigan
UNC

Daughter
GPA: 4.0UW/4.5W
IB Diploma Candidate, 4 HLs
EC: 2 community service/leadership roles, drama club, minor awards, 1 varsity sport, 1 JV sport, 20 hr/week year round employment
Interest: Radio/TV/Film/Media + Stats/Sociology/Data Science?
CA resident

Schools:
Brown
UPenn
Northwestern/Comms
Univ. Michigan
Emory
Boston Univ./COM
Univ. Washington
Indiana Univ./Media School

For the most competitive schools on the list, I’d shoot for an ACT of 33/34 as the target.

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Diminishing returns after 34 in my opinion, unless either has a reasonable chance of getting 36 in each section, single sitting. That’s probably as rare as a 1600 in the SAT and I think gets a little notice at admissions offices although no one will say so.

Ok thanks. I’m more concerned about them getting to the 34. How important is that? Of those schools, where is a 32 good enough and where does it automatically get you into the “no way” pile? I honestly can’t tell what score to expect. Their practice tests are showing a huge variance.

A couple of my kids really wanted to go OOS so needed enough merit to bring costs down to IS, private tutors worked best for all of my kids (classes did not help fir my kids who took them). One got a 33, the other 34 (the 33 one was expected to get a 1500+ on her SAT that was canceled on 3/13/20, and she did lose a lot before finally being able to take the ACT the following fall, and her SAT was only 1470).

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You can look up the common data sets of the top schools and see what their 25th-75th percentile ranges are for the ACT. Look at last year and also the previous too since test optional skewed the scores upwards. Anything below the 25th percentile will make a reach school even reacher.

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For the Ivys a 34. At most Ivy’s a 33 is the 25th percentile and a 35 the 75th percentile.

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any thoughts on UGA? Its the one I am the most uncertain of.

I think I have the CDS memorized by now. But it doesn’t separate OOS from in-state so I don’t know how much that impacts things. And yes, last year’s CDS is useless for test scores.

Assume that an OOS applicant needs to be even stronger for most schools. Michigan for sure.

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Test scores won’t be affected until the 2021-22 CDS wave is released, and I haven’t seen any of those yet.

The 2020-2021 CDS reflects applications from the Fall 2019 applications season. Usually due January or February 2020 at the latest, with testing competed in 2019. Pre-pandemic impacts.

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UGA is very enamored with AP classes and stats. Their scholarship consideration for early application looks primarily at stats and so having those AP classes will help. I think any score in the 30’s will be good but the higher it is, the more competitive the student is.

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Basically, your kids need 34 in order for it to not be “noticeable.” As in, for most of those schools, a 34 will meet expectations. Some of the colleges will be okay with 33. 32 starts to look iffy (in the world of elite admissions.) IU is probably the school where they could get away with 32, though I don’t know how competitive the media school is. And of course, a 32 is an excellent score and they might be able to get in with lower scores, depending on the rest of the app.

Disclaimer, I am a test prep tutor. My honest thought is that your money is far better spent on private tutoring than any other kind of test prep. A good tutor will help your child work on areas of weakness. At the same time, a good tutor will work to help your child maximize their areas of strength. Tutoring courses simply can’t offer individualization.

I suggest your kids not combine tutoring sessions, except for maybe one or two at the start, or unless they seem to struggle with the same sections of the test and the same types of questions.

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A 4.0 UW looks like they know the material! What are the AP scores? Do they have trouble with testing?

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UGA doesn’t distinguish between in-state and OOS applicants. GATech does… 60% of the class must be in-state.

If you have not already, I encourage you to check out both schools’ admissions blogs. UGA/Dave Graves and GATech/Rick Clark are very transparent about the admissions process (and entertaining reads!)

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No I don’t think so. I think the math programs at both their schools are crap. And there’s no class that preps for “science”. So they’re working on math and science. They’re both in the 34-36 range for reading and English. My older kid had the same experience. They all get As in math but fall short on standardized tests. I think this reflects poorly on their math departments. And is an example of why standardized tests are useful— even though I hate them!

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6 AP’s senior year? Apps, essays and visits eat-up time. Then there’s senioritis.

I’m assuming some CA schools are on the list?

IU and UGA probably have 8k business undergrads. Is that appealing?

I don’t think UNC and Michigan are direct admit for business. What if he doesn’t get in?

GT would be full pay most likely. S20 transferred from Scheller to ISyE. He really likes it there.

If your D likes film/media some of the Cali schools seem like a no brainer. Syracuse or NYU. S21 is at FSU for digital media but thinking of trying for their top rated film school.

Maybe get the ACT scores and then think schools but a 34 is what the target should be for the schools on your list.

I think a lot of selective schools happily ignored scores last year because it allowed them to focus more on subjective aspects of applications. Your kids look solid, but hooks seem to win out these days over more objective measures like scores. Some people like that, some people don’t, depending on their kids’ scores I suppose.

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That’s why I asked about the AP scores, e.g. in Math and Sciences.

The syllabus of these classes is standardized, the teachers are teaching to the AP tests, and the AP tests will give you an independent assessment that is going to be comparable to students across the country.

If students consistently get A’s from their AP teachers, but then 3’s or 4’s on the AP tests, then school administrators (and parents) have an objective measure that those teachers might be inflating grades.

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Will know more on Son’s AP scores after this year. Last year his school only taught 50% of the normal class time. It was a disaster for many AP students. And at his school many AP teachers do not make any attempt to prep kids for the exams. D’s school does a much better job.