<p>Got D’s one and only ACT score today from the June testing.
C33
E32 M34 R32 S35</p>
<p>Will this be good enough for an Application to Yale? D can take it again but there are many other things I’d rather that she concentrate on.</p>
<p>For an unhooked applicant (one who’s not a recruited athlete, talented URM, child of celebrity, development case, etc.) 33 is on the low side for Yale. If your D believes that with some extra prep she could raise her score, I recommend retaking.</p>
<p>She is not “hooked” but should be 1/179, with most difficult curriculum available. Marching band, concert band, jazz band was assistant drum major and will be next year’s drum major plus private saxophone lessons. Dances about 7 hours/week, ballet, point, tap and jazz. Skier.</p>
<p>For the Sept ACT we would have to drive 3 hours and stay overnight in another state. It is not available here. Then the next in-state is end of October and would not have the scores before SEA.</p>
<p>SAT’s were fine but their value is lower than the ACT - 2090 and no single score was amazing thus decreasing the value of superscoring.</p>
<p>SAT II in Bio was 780</p>
<p>Waiting on Chem SAT II and will be taking Math 2C sometime in the fall</p>
<p>Further comments?</p>
<p>You may want to check with Yale admissions to see if the October scores would reach them in time for the SCEA deadline.</p>
<p>I know on-line it says that the October will reach in time but she will have applied blind without knowing the score ahead of time</p>
<p>a 33 is probably average for accepted applicants, so it should be fine. it won’t get her in, and it won’t keep her out; for comparison, i got in with a 2200 SAT and a 32 ACT.</p>
<p>rd31 - You have the reverse of D’s SAT and ACT scores. May I ask what year you were accepted? Did you have any special hook that made a difference?</p>
<p>i was accepted for the class of 2011. i didn’t have any major hooks; i was just really well-rounded. (i’m also asian, so i didn’t receive affirmative action.)</p>
<p>Geography may play a role in admissions results. My kids have gone to two different high schools, one public, one private. At both schools, each of the unhooked students admitted to Yale had either a 35 or a 36 ACT composite. Take a look at Naviance scattergrams for schools in your area.</p>
<p>rd31 - How were your ACT writing and English/writing scores? Is that number even looked at by Yale?</p>
<p>wjb - I tried to look into Naviance scattergrams. It appears that that is only something through your HS. Is that correct? I am sure that Geography will play into acceptances. We are in MA and that will probably not be in her favor. I am sure that they are deluged w/ MA applicants.</p>
<p>smoda – Here’s an old thread with guest codes for many high schools’ Naviance sites. I checked a few that still worked:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/115922-if-your-school-guidance-has-naviance-please-give-me-code.html?highlight=tcci[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/115922-if-your-school-guidance-has-naviance-please-give-me-code.html?highlight=tcci</a></p>
<p>My English/writing score was 35 (12 essay).</p>
<p>rd31 - That was spectacular. I can’t imagine that D will have anything like that, though I can hope. I’m expecting low 30’s though she has never done an ACt essay. SAT essays she was in the range of a 10 and then got an 8 (ouch) on the real thing.</p>
<p>wjb - Ok, I managed to go in though a guest code. All I observed are the number of applied and got in etc. Are there other statistics there that I am missing. I don’t see GPA, scores, rank etc of the admitted students.</p>
<p>Try clicking on “Scattergrams.” It will show you a graph of results (ACT/SAT plotted against GPA) for the application year.</p>
<p>But don’t you need the essay for a score to count? I wouldn’t recommend taking again unless you need that essay (I think you do? don’t you?). Don’t worry about what the essay score is, though, I don’t think they really care that much, especially if your essays you send to them are good. And really, a 33 is not “on the low end” for unhooked applicants. It’s midrange. I’d focus on essays and the last SAT II scores right now.</p>
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<p>At the schools my kids have attended and at other high schools in our geographic area, a 33 is indeed on the low end for an unhooked applicant. That’s why it’s so important for an applicant to measure his/her own scores against the scores of other applicants in his/her high school or similar high schools in the same region. Those are the applicants who are “the competition.” Naviance scattergrams are a good way to do this. Many high schools will give a non-student broad access to their Naviance sites as a guest.</p>
<p>Ok, fair enough. If you go to an amazing high school in a major metropolitan area, it is probably different. Having lived in a small town in the Midwest and gone to a crappy public school that hadn’t ever sent anyone to an Ivy school, I wouldn’t be the most knowledgeable person on that front. And because it’s true that most Ivy admits come from those types of places, the 33 might be low, although I wouldn’t say that as a general rule of thumb by any means. It just feels weird to say that because at my HS, only one or zero people got to that 33 mark every year, and very, very rarely did anyone go beyond.</p>
<p>What you and I are saying is consistent, drummer. Just want to add one thing. Although one of my kids went to a public HS that could probably be classified as “amazing,” or close to it, the other one did not. He went to a tiny, start-up private with no track record at top schools. But it’s in the same geographic area as a cluster of outstanding public schools, so to be competitive students at my son’s school have to meet the same standards as kids at the local area publics – that means they need top scores to be competitive at top schools. </p>
<p>Location, location, location. ;)</p>
<p>Thank you wjb and drummerdude. i appreciate any thoughts. wjb - I did check out those cluster charts from the link you gave me. Are there ways to find other schools and/or data. There were only like 3 Mass. schools that I notices and of course there are a lot of HS’s in mass. On them were only a few acceptances. Any ideas?</p>
<p>smoda – Try Googling the names of high schools in your area and logging onto their websites. Once there, look for sections on college counseling. On at least a few sites you should find direct links to Naviance with guest access. Sometimes you need a guest password, which may be something relatively obvious, like the name of the school mascot.</p>