I am a current junior who is planning to apply primarily to private and out of state public schools to study chemical engineering.
I got a composite score of 35 on the ACT, however my writing score was a 23 which in this testing round placed me at the 83rd percentile. My combined ELA score (average of Reading, Writing, and English scores) is still at a 30 which is 98th percentile.
Right now I am trying to decide whether to try and re-score, re-test, or to leave my results as they are.
My primary concern with leaving my results as they are is that some of the private schools I am considering have fairly low acceptance rates (though not Ivy level) and I am worried that this low score, even though it is the only below 98th percentile section score on this exam, may hurt my chances at admission or merit financial aid vs. another candidate.
Will this one score actually hurt my chances at admission and merit financial aid as much as I think it will?