I was wandering if an ACT Essay score of 30 would make any difference on my Princeton application, even though I scored fairly low (20’s and 24’s) on the rest of the ACT sections?
I have taken a good amount of AP’s and scored 5 on all so far. I think my gpa is good 4.6/5 (weighted).
I also do a good bit of volunteer work around my community. For example, I speak Spanish and English and so I am my church’s Sunday morning interpreter (We have bilingual services; it’s pretty awesome). At church I’m also the leader of the Audio and Visuals, and make the presentations for each church meeting and event. I also love the arts, so I volunteer at my local art Museum every Sat, and during the summer, I volunteer Tues. as well. I am all about saving the environment, and just recently started my own trash and RECYCLING company (I emphasis recycling because I encourage all my clients to do it). All in all, please tell me what you think, because I would appreciate helpful responses
ACT composite of less than 24 makes you completely non-viable unless you’re the most heavily recruited athlete Princeton is targeting this year.
Can you sit for it again? Perhaps take the SAT? Sometimes people do better on one than the other.
I’d say to be even viable, you want ACT 32+. That’s about a 9-10 point jump and I don’t think it’s likely. Make sure you are targeting a broad number of colleges (try the SuperMatch tool on the left side of this page). Right now, seeking admission into one of the MOST SELECTIVE schools extant isn’t going to happen. Good luck.
T26E4 is right. Get over Princeton and the elites right now. It’s not likely for anyone, but impossible for someone with your test scores right now (not even a recruited athlete gets in with a 24 composite).
I think you should try the SAT. If your statements about your course load and AP success is true, I think you should be doing better on these sorts of tests. It seems the ACT just doesn’t click with you. Try the SAT instead, see what happens, and pick a couple of dream schools but FOCUS ON TARGETS AND SAFETIES!!! Be realistic in this process. If you’d gotten a 36 on each section, I still would be telling you to look at other schools. That’s just the reality of college admissions these days. Learn how to play this game so that you A) don’t lose your mind; B) don’t get heartbroken when it could have been easily avoided, and C) end up at the post-secondary ‘place’ that is right for you.
