I will be a senior this upcoming year, and have taken the ACT and SAT subject tests once. I got a 34 on the ACT (35E/34M/32R/34S/8W) and on SAT subjects, a 770 in Chem, 750 in Math 2, and 670 on US History (I was feeling ambitious on test day, probably too ambitious). While these scores are probably fine for my safeties and matches (Illinois, Alabama, Iowa State), would I need to retake either of these tests to stand out as an engineering major at Duke, Hopkins, Notre Dame, and Northwestern, and if so by how much? I don’t plan on applying anywhere ED, so I should have multiple opportunities to retake either test. I also obviously understand that GPA/Rank/ECs/Essays/Recs play a major role in admissions and that there is some amount of luck involved, but any input on my test scores would be much appreciated.
I once read from a test prep site that getting a 34 on the ACT is essentially the same as getting a 36, as both fall in the 99th percentile. I have a feeling this might not go for highly competitive schools like what you are looking into. Seeing as all of your scores are near perfect (except history, which is irrelevant to your major) I don’t think there’s any need to retake any of them. Typically students do worse on their second round of the ACT than the first, and I’d assume the same goes for subject tests. This is typically because students get anxious about doing better and that effects their performance. You’d have to prepare very well to do better, let alone to get a 36.
Although getting a 36 or 800 wouldn’t hurt it’s really up to you to decide if you want to put your time and energy into re-taking any of the tests.
On average, students with a 34 have a slightly better chance of having their scores go down than up. http://www.actstudent.org/faq/more.html Students with scores below 34 have a better chance of scores going up.
All of your scores are in the 98th-99th percentile. I wouldn’t retake.