<p>because it looks like the average Act of matriculating students is lower than the corresponding average SAT</p>
<p>Maybe a better sense of ACTs would be to look at the midrange scores (25%-75%), which was 29-34 last year. Not sure what the average score is…</p>
<p>yea your right… i didn’t realize that the conversion charts online were outdated. Ignore what I said.</p>
<p>Hi:
From our humble experience, it is not, unless you have some other special factor in your favor.<br>
I would not use a high ACT score as a wise admission strategy for Top Tier schools like Dartmouth unless you are from a state such as North Dakota or Iowa. My d (from New York) scored 34 on the ACT-- top 1 % nationally. Her grades and recs were excellent… loads of APs… honor society…national merit commended, tons of awards, etc. etc,… SAT IIs ranged between 700-780 but she was flat out rejected by Dartmouth, Amherst, Yale and Brown in the regular decision round… (thankfully she was accepted at Cornell, Berkeley, UVA and Vassar…and at two other schools with a big scholarship on the basis of the high ACT score) </p>
<p>Several other equivalent candidates from her HS were accepted at Dartmouth Early Decision and I don’t think they took the ACT… so think carefully about ED if your SAT I is decent-- it boosts your chances if you know where you want to go… (we were not aware of the early decision advantage so we did not do it…)</p>
<p>We only bothered to apply to these superselective schools in the regular decision round on the basis of her very high ACT score, which put her in the top 25% of accepted students at these schools… and they do pay a lot of lip service to the idea that the tests are treated equally… maybe… :)</p>
<p>She also submitted SAT I which was very good, but a little weaker than the 34 ACT (which supposedly translated to an SAT I of 1520–) but I think they just looked at the SAT I score and disregarded the higher ACT score … The upshot is: unless you score at least 2250-2300 on the SAT I do not expect a top 1% ACT score to carry you at the tippy top Ivys…</p>
<p>A super high ACT score is probably less likely to get you admitted than an equivalently high SAT score… especially if you are from an over represented, non midwestern state.
There are lots of applicants with high SAT I scores who do not do as well on the ACT (the tests do measure different abilities…) and this is probably where Dartmouth’s relatively low ACT ranges are derived from…(i.e., they are not really selecting on the basis of high ACT scores) but I could be wrong…</p>
<p>Just my humble opinion…</p>
<p>I think that the ACT scores being lower is more of a statistical fluke - fewer people submit ACTs, recruited athletes from ACT states may broaden the range of ACT scores. When the sample size is much smaller, it doesn’t take much to skew the results.</p>
<p>I find that hard to believe, because at least 1000 kids must be submitting ACT’s, because virtually every kid in midwest take it. And 1000 ACT scores is probably enough to represent the pool of highly competitive applicants.</p>
<p>Please believe whatever you wish . I am simply reporting our experience at super selective Ivys with a super high ACT score of 34— which I think may prove valuable for someone thinking of applying with ACT who is from the East Coast.
Perhaps we would not have chosen to spend money on applying to these schools based on the 34 ACT if we had known that ACT was not as valued as the SAT… Or perhaps if the schools were a bit more forthcoming on their requirements, they would not get so many applicants… and would then lose out on the large money they make from application fees… :)</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s common data set does not give a break down of ACT scores for the class of 2009</p>
<p><a href=“This Page Has Moved”>This Page Has Moved;
<p>Of the admitted class of 2009, 89% (952 students) submitted the SAT as compared to the 11% (121 students) who submitted the ACT.</p>
<p>I think that Cangel and Clayvessel both raise valid points regarding the ACT range: some of the range could be attributed to recruited athletes along the fact that an overwhelming majority of the students(who matriculated) were admitted with SAT scores. </p>
<p>Form what I have seen here on the boards over the past 3 admission cylcles here on CC, those that submitted ACT scores had either perfect (36) or near perfect (35) scores.</p>
<p>S was accepted to Dartmouth 2010 on the basis of ACT and SAT2s only. He got a 32 plus 3 decent SAT 2s (750,720,690). He never once took the SAT, so only his SAT2s appeared on the CB report. He is neither an athlete nor an URM, probably top 20% of his class (very competitive non-ranking private). We live in a major metro area; probably every other kid in his class took the SAT.</p>
<p>So yes, they do accept ACT in our experience.</p>
<p>Very interesting discussion, esp. the encouraging news from nervousmom. Our strategy is to submit only the ACT as it plays to our son’s strengths (math/science, less so verbal). He took it in March, got a 32 (33,31,31,33), and will again in Sep and perhaps Oct. hoping for some small improvement (according to ACT 55% increase their scores). We like that ACT allows you to select WHICH score(s) to submit; not the whole tamale as with SATI&II. With admissions officers always on the lookout for ANY weakness, lower scores from earlier administrations cannot help but be noticed, no matter what they say about taking the ‘highest scores.’ Of course we are resigned to doing the SATIIs, but would prefer to ‘play blackjack’ via ACT with no penalty for getting a lower score on subsequent test(s), and no reporting of an SATI that might come in lower on the verbal, which can be the kiss of death at schools where 750+ math scores are a dime a dozen. But still am a bit wary about this strategy, given the comments of DayVessel above. Thoughts anyone?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that nervousmom’s son applied and got in ED (approx. 3000 students), whereas Clayvessel’s D applied RD (approx. 11,000 students). </p>
<p>There is an advantage in the ED pool and being outside of the northeast/midatlantic states(smaller applicant pools, not in with a bunch of students essentially knocking each other out of the box). It also depends on the school that nm’s son attended, it could be a feeder, and have an established track record for sending kids to Dartmouth, there are so many variables to take into consideration and there is no cut & dry/ one size fits all answer…</p>
<p>Clayvessels D is also in westchester county which is not at a loss of kids applying to the ivies along with kids from NYC. I know that my D who is an 8, the largest group of students are from NY with the majority of them coming from NYC. This is followed by MA, CA.</p>
<p>True, we are in Texas, and his school does “feed” the Ivies. 6 out of 14 in his class of 86 students were accepted to dartmouth. He got in because of a strong transcript at a very challenging “known” school, solid ECs and leadership, and lots of luck. ED surely helped.</p>
<p>He had 35 English, 35 Math, 29 Reading, and 27 Science, but he had 2 science SAT 2’s to balance that out. His combined english/writing was 34. The composite was only 32.</p>
<p>His plan, not mine, was to take SAT2’s end of junior year, send them to his colleges in July with the idea that he could take the SAT 1 in the fall. He’d then have the option of resending the SAT report if he liked the score, or could simple never send it. (so they could only see his SAT 2s- a “score choice” of sorts). In the end, he decided against taking the SAT 1 at all because of sports conflicts and the general anxiety he had about the SAT 1.</p>
<p>We felt lucky.</p>
<p>I got a 34 on the ACT, and I didn’t take the SAT. I got into Brown, Columbia, Georgetown SFS, and Duke.</p>
<p>Taking ACT isn’t easier or harder and colleges look at it the same. UNLIKE what clayvessel said, top tier schools don’t look down on the ACT.</p>
<p>Look at what your converted score is using a collegeboard chart to determine which score is better, your SAT or ACT.</p>
<p>clayvessel uses faulty logic, assuming that the ACT score kept her daughter out. The truth is that these colleges look for loads more than testing, and many top kids with near perfect scores are turned away EVERY year.</p>
<p>I agree. The scores are just one small component and are used to validate the high school transcript.</p>