D took ACT twice and got a 31 on each with a 32 superscore and a 34 on math. She has good ECs like Varsity team captain of two sports, but no hooks. She had a 3.6 UW, 4.3 weighted and high rigor. She applied to all schools for chemical engineering, or engineering.
She was accepted to Lehigh, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, Purdue, Case Western Reserve (athletic recruit), and North Eastern. She chose Lehigh.
Just curious what makes a score of 32 a “magical” number? Is 1 point really that much better or is it just the feeling we get that one more point will make all the difference? I ask because DS got a 32 and I feel like 33 is the magical number!!
@jmek15 I think anyone how does not have a 36 ACT score thinks that if they only had one more point, they would have been way better off. lol
@muchtolearn I was happy to see that your D was accepted to Lehigh! Congratulations!! We just toured there are Thursday and it immediately jumped to #1 spot for S.
It’s a cutoff for consideration for (or automatic reception of) certain merit aid awards (e.g., the University of Alabama’s full-tuition scholarship), so that’s probably part of it.
I don’t know because while 32 used to be the magic number is seems 33 is now. There are a number of merit scholarships that now require 33…
Thanks everyone for posting the admits and other school suggestions – it’s been very helpful. My D has a 30 ACT and I’ve certainly been wondering where she’ll get admitted and get merit.
We went to a local college preview night to see Case Western Reserve. U of Rochester was there too and D immediately added it to the list after the info session. I feel like it’s too reachy. Our Naviance average for UofR is 32. However, we’ll be visiting because we both are excited about RIT (Naviance average 29). RIT specifically says that presidential scholarships are available to students with 29+ ACT, so at least it’s a possibility. D will be taking both the SAT (current score 1370) and ACT again, so I’m hoping for some “magically” increasing numbers.
@NEPatsGirl, Smith is D’s first choice, so I’m really glad to hear your D got the Smith STRIDE with similar stats. At least there’s some hope.
At D’s school, from this yr and last, some of the schools where 30/31 got in were Bates, BC, Colby, Holy Cross, UCLA, Middlebury, GW, Trinity, Washington & Lee
I feel like looking at your own school’s stats can be very telling. Naviance helps us see the real picture for sure. We are in Illinois and, for the kids in our high-achieving public school, places like Michigan and Wisconsin are tough to get in. 75th percentile for Wisconsin is a 30 on the ACT. Average admit from our school is a 32. 75th percentile at Michigan is also a 30. At our high school, the average is a 33. So, kids at our school may need these high scores in order to be accepted even though they are well above the school’s 75th percentile. I believe this happens because the schools only want so many kids from our suburban Chicago school and, if the brightest kids apply, those are the kids who get in.
Our students are definitely competing with each other for spots.
@homerdog does you child go to New Trier? I have heard this before.
A year ago, with a 31 ACT and 3.9 weighted GPA, my son was accepted to UConn, U of Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State and Ithaca. Received merit money from all except Penn State. Process to start again with my younger son in the fall.
@hcmom65 sent you a message. Not New Trier…but certainly the same deal. Big school and very high-achieving. Sports and academic teams win many state championships so competition is intense to make these teams and to get leadership positions. (I think the school had eight sports that topped out as champions this year). I believe our high school was ranked higher than New Trier in the last US News and World Report rankings.
30 ACT got accepted to every school he applied to with the exception of Georgia. A&M, OU, Furman, Belmont, Sewanee, TCU
I got a 30 ACT when I was 22 and lived at a Job Corps in Montana. Wanted to apply as a frosh to San Jose State and San Francisco State (I was born and raised in San Jose, and wanted to move back to my home state). Neither would allow me to apply because I didn’t meet other admissions criteria (Didn’t take enough math, science, or foreign language classes in high school). I applied to the University of Montana, though I also didn’t meet their admissions criteria (lack of math and science classes again). They accepted me anyway based on my test scores and my time at Job Corps convincing them I was making up for high school. Didn’t go, though. Couldn’t get in state tuition. Ended up going back to California and enrolling in community college (I qualified to get non-resident tuition waived because I went to high school there). I applied for transfer to CSU Long Beach, San Francisco State, Humboldt State, and CalPoly SLO. Got accepted into San Francisco State, SLO, and Humboldt, got advanced to the second stage of admissions at Long Beach but withdrew my application because I’d already committed to San Francisco State at that point.
Great thread! My best friend’s son has a 30 and thinks it’s the end of the world 
He’s hoping for IU,Purdue, IL, or Rose-Hulman (may be too small but is visiting this summer) and it looks like from here those are all possible. He was considering taking the SAT but from this thread it seems like people’s scores were pretty similar across tests.
A 30 is good for Purdue and IU and maybe even IL depending on what he wants to major in. ^
If it’s a competitive, popular major at UIUC, he may want to take the test again.
My son got a 28 on his ACT and was accepted to Vassar, Tulane, Trinity, Holy Cross, Wittenberg, Dickinson and Rensselear. He admittedly cast a wide net and had several rejections/wait lists but just to put out there that scores aren’t everything. Unhooked from out west.
@kibbles , What was your sons GPA ? I was told that Renssellear was tough to get into ?
My son with a 30 ACT and 2070 SAT 4.0 UW GPA applied to engineering programs and got into Purdue, VT, Northeastern, Lafayette, UMASS Amherst and Lehigh. He is at Lehigh and is really enjoying it.