If you have a senior, where are they applying and where have they been accepted so far?
If you have a college student, where did they apply? Which colleges accepted or denied them, and where did they ultimately choose to attend?
Thank you Endora. That was helpful, but my daughter has a 32 single sitting ACT and has consistently gotten a 33 or 34 on her recent practice tests. She will be re-taking the ACT in Dec. I should have specified that I was looking for the ACT of 32-33 in a single sitting. It seems that every point influences admissions greatly - especially at a 33+
For schools that superscore I don’t think they care about single sitting vs superscore. If they did they wouldn’t superscore.
Colleges do seem to see a difference between 32 and 33 in the students they recruit Son ( now a junior in college) made a 32 and daughter scored a 33 and the difference in the emails and mailings that flood our house is very interesting. Two totally different groups of colleges and universities. All the colleges where our daughter have applied superscore the ACT, so I am wondering why you are concerned about single sitting scores? Is it because some schools show scholarship cutoffs or Honors Colleges at 33 for ACT? In reviewing for admissions, admissions counselors will say repeatedly that they will take the highest from each section & don’t look at the composite.Best of luck to your daughter! 32 is an excellent score by the way. Many would love to have that!
Son had 33 ACT score and while his school doesn’t rank, he was right around the top 10%. He was accepted to Purdue, Clemson, and TAMU for Engineering. He was capped at UT. (Which is basically a rejection with a feeder school path into a non competitive major) He’s currently a Clemson Tiger on a nice scholarship but, not accepted to honors.
Purdue, OSU, Clemson, Valparaiso, Marquette, university of Cincinnati, Michigan State acceptances. Chose Valpo and its very generous merit scholarship.
My D had a 33 and a GPA in the range you stated. She was only interested in state flagships, applied to 5 of them and chose one that offered a full tuition scholarship. Her classmates with similar scores/GPA who were interested in privates got into good schools but not the top schools. For instance, her best friend (34, 3.9 with good ECs) got into Wake Forest, Boston College, Villanova, Bucknell, Colgate and a few others, but was denied at Penn, Dartmouth, Cornell and Brown.
Son with 32 ACT applied to & accepted to all the Florida universities, Auburn and Alabama. He is attending the University of Florida with some private scholarships ( yes,they are out there!) Would have gone to Alabama if not accepted to Florida because of their extraordinary scholarship & honors college for students in the range you mentioned. Daughter with 33 has applied to the Florida universities and a few others out of state and admissions decisions will start coming in soon. My children’s friends have had similar experiences as Beth’s mom posted.
My D17 has a single sitting ACT of 32, we didn’t figure out the superscore with her other ACT though. Her GPA is 3.8 and her ECs aren’t anything jaw-dropping (shockingly, she did not find a cure for cancer while in high school!)…she applied ED to a small LAC with a scary acceptance rate of 16%. We should find out in December, otherwise, she has also applied and would be happy at Skidmore, Reed, Puget Sound, Willamette, and Franklin & Marshall.
But we have our fingers and crossed for that Early Decision!!! Waiting with bated breath, the whole thing. 
My D13 had 32 ACT (both single sitting and superscore), 3.8 UW, 4.5 W, 6 APs, strong ECs focused on a couple areas - accepted Hamilton, Bucknell (with merit, attending), Conn College, Muhlenberg (with merit), Denison (with huge merit), waitlisted Wesleyan and Middlebury; rejected Williams (legacy).
My S16 had 32 ACT single sitting / 33 superscored, 3.8 UW, 4.5 W, 10 APs, average ECs (a varsity sport and marching band) - accepted Ohio State (with merit), CWRU (with merit), University of Rochester (with merit), Lafayette (with merit, attending), and waitlisted at Lehigh.
I think @Lindagaf had it right in her thread about average excellent kids. The most highly selective colleges are very tough admits and 1 or 2 points bump in the ACT once you are over about a 32 is unlikely to make that much of a difference. I tend to believe that for many students who get 33, 34+ on the ACT, they also have the rest of the story (ECs, rigorous schedule, great recs etc.) that ar what most of these top colleges are looking for. Does your student have a shot at the tippy tops? Sure, it’s possible so go ahead and apply (but know that 80-85% of applicants probably very much like your students are not going to be accepted.) And go ahead and re-take the ACT if student wants to. But I really doubt a 33 ACT is going to make that much of a difference. For me (and my students who each re-took once) it just wasn’t worth obsessing over. They both ended up at very good colleges that they enjoy. Both are doing well academically and feel well prepared but plenty challenged. They find a nice balance between students being serious about their studies and also having time to have fun. Both got merit aid which was great since we didn’t qualify for any FA with just 1 in college at a time.
I apologize for being a student on the parent forum, but I think my post will benefit this discussion
I have a 32 single-sitting and a 34 super score (made up of two 32 scoring tests). My English/math combined score (the most important sections) is a 35 with a perfect English score. However, I do have a 4.0 UW (sorry if this isn’t the type of applicant you’re looking for). ECs are unique, essays are good, and recs are amazing. I’m applying to/have applied to:
-Brown (ED) - only looks at highest sub scores
-Northeastern (EA) - superscores
-Harvard (legacy)
-Pomona - superscores
-Williams - superscores
-Northwestern - nebulous about superscoring policy
-WashU - superscores
-Tufts - superscores
-Cal Poly SLO - only looks at composite and English/math sub sections
-Berkeley - in state (not too worried about this one as the average acceptance for my school was 29/3.97)
I am reaching high, but my GC was the one who told me to add more reaches as she thinks I am a promising candidate.
I will update if necessary in December when I hear back from Brown and NEU.
My D’s very high reaches are UNC-CH (1st choice, but applied RD) and Vanderbilt (RD). (These are reaches for most as I understand). She really tried to apply to schools where she had a decent shot at acceptance: Tulane- EA (one of her top 3), UGA - EA (flagship - in state), U of Florida - Priority deadline, U of Miami - EA, OSU -EA. She did apply to 1 LAC (Rhodes - RD). She was accepted at U of Pittsburg so far (very excited about that one!) along with her safeties. Decisions for UGA come out tomorrow (pretty sure she’s safe). OSU and Tulane should be in by Dec 15th.
She is interested in the honors colleges and merit aid which is why the couple of point bump on the ACT could be very helpful.
Do any schools factor in mid year senior grades? Her GPA low because of several B’s freshman year and a B in physics (89.4) ~X( last year. She has a steady upward grade trend, is carrying a strong senior schedule, and should finish the semester with A’s (one high B is possible in an IB class though).
She has 7AP/IP courses and 4 honors, Very good recs, 3 years varsity sports, strong EC’s for her major, decent record of leadership that aligns very closely with her major. I don’t know if schools will consider it a hook, but she did share her background and personal story. It’s pretty unique, and she is a first generation college student biologically.
hi. I’m a new member first post.
I have a S17. ACT 32. (33 superstore). Major in film/history. 4.42W 3.9UW. good EC and volunteering 300+ hours / 4AP classes 12 Honor classes. Some B’s mostly A’s.
Has applied to:
tOSU EA
Miami U(OH) EA
OU(HTC)
BGSU(HonorsCollege) safety( accepted w/merit)
U of Rochester RD
Syracuse University RD
University of Notre Dame RD
Vanderbilt RD
Belmont University Rolling (accepted w/ merit waiting on honors)
D’s friend whose results I listed did not apply ED anywhere. She had other classmates with similar stats who applied to top schools ED and it didn’t seem to make a difference. The only kid I can think of who got in ED got into Penn and he was a legacy.
@Endora Sorry, that wasn’t clear. She got a 32 on the September ACT, and did worse on the June one, but one of her scores in June was Reading 35; better than the September Reading score. I’m not sure but I think that means she could have a different superscore, however, we only sent in the September one to schools that didn’t ask to see all scores. This includes her ED school. 
@“beth’s mom” In some (perhaps a lot of) cases, ED makes a huge difference. You can see this when you break down acceptances by ED vs RD. Some schools…don’t ask me which because I don’t remember now, but some school might have a 30% ED acceptance rate and an 8% RD rate – HUGE. Understandable when you think about it; yield protection.
I’m sensing some panic here. Parent of current similar stat kid applying this year and a similar stat kid who had many choices and is happily graduated and launched.
Hopefully you have applied broadly and Have a safety you love so step away from the ledge. It is an exercise in high blood pressure to start obsessing over ACT superscores. If she’s a kid the want 1 point on the composite score is not going to be the deal breaker.
You’ve clearly got a smart kid and the school she attends will matter far less than the hustle she exhibits in terms of her future.
DS16 applied to only instate schools secondary to state funded scholarships last year . Applied and was accepted to Clemson Calhoun Honors College, Furman University, Wofford College, Withrop University and The Honors College at College of Charleston . He attends The Honors College at CofC as a William Aiken Fellow on close to a full ride .
S12 had 32 ACT (single sitting) and 1330 R/M SAT (single sitting.) 3.8ish unweighted. Rejected: Tufts, Cornell. Accepted (with Merit): Rochester, University of Washington (Honors), WWU. Attended/graduated Rochester.
Accepted: Lehigh, Illinois, Case Western Reserve, Wisconsin, Northeastern, Purdue.
Attending: Lehigh.
@gacollegemom6 It would be helpful to know what majors are interesting to your student.