I am applying to a lot of the top schools this Fall (Duke, Northwestern, WUSTL, Berkeley, UChicago, Cornell, Brown, HYS, Pomona College, and Columbia) as a prospective Political Science major. I just got back my ACT results and got this:
Composite: 32
English: 35
Math: 31
Reading: 34
Science: 27
I took the ACT in June and got a 30 composite with a 35 in math. Should I send that score too? Is my score good enough for Duke, Cornell, Berkeley, and Brown? What about the rest?
32 is at or slightly below the admission average for these schools. The score is in the range but a higher score would help.
Send both scores.
Based on the 32 alone, not good enough for schools on your list. But will depend also on gpa, rigor, ec etc
Your list is full of reaches with very low admission rates, which are a crap shoot for everyone. Do you have any matches and safeties on your list(from both an admissions and a financial standpoint)? Do you need financial aid/merit? How much are your parents able/willing to pay each year? How about George Washinton U? American U? There are hundreds of schools with excellent PolySci programs.
You can research how your own scores stack up by looking at the common data sets that most schools post on their websites. Here is the link from another thread on CC to many of them::
Look at the section on freshman admissions, it will list the 25 - 75% ranges for SAT and ACT scores. Some(most?) schools on your list may also require SAT subject tests.
As I tried to convey in post#4, even if your scores are in the range for accepted/enrolled students, acceptance rates are extremely low at the schools you list. If you do not have any other less selective schools on your list, you need to add some.
Year after year at my daughters’ high school, which is full of over the top students, many students apply to only ivies and very selective top tier schools(because they have the stats), and our state U, which they don’t really want to attend. A large percentage of these kids don’t get into any of their highly selective reach schools and end up at the dreaded state U(actually a good school, but much closer to home than most students want),because they had no other match/safety schools on their list. Please do not end up in the same boat as these invariably crushed and disappointed kids. At the end of the application process, you want to have choices!!!
You can quickly look at the 25% - 75% percentile ACT scores for admitted students at colleges you are interested in by searching https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/. You will have to do a little more digging on college websites to figure out if your choices want to see all test scores, and if they do, if they plan to “super-score.”
I like the theory your GPA, class rigor, and standardized test scores get you in the door, whether you are asked to stay for dinner depends on everything else that makes you special. The caveat, much of it is out of your control. Maybe you are a Pakistani, master chess player, uni-cyclist, who started a community recycling program from Nebraska. And maybe another guy with all those same qualities applied too, but he has a 33 ACT. Bummer for you! Or he has a 31; bummer for him! Or, the admissions lady once got run-over by a uni-cyclist and now walks with a limp. Bummer for both of you!
And of course, for the sake of your long and short term sanity, apply to an academic and financial safety. The collective CC community beseeches you.
BTW, D1 had a 2300 SAT, 1600, CR + Math, high GPA, good ECs, NMF, D2 had high GPA, good ECs, 2230 SAT and 35ACT, NMF. Both were told by their(very experienced and excellent) college counselor that all of the schools on your list would be reaches for them, even with scores much higher than yours. Hope for successful applications at those schools but also have a back up plan:)
Yes guys, I am applying to safeties. I just put those reaches in to see how I fair against them. I live in a state where the dreaded state U is actually top notch, and relatively easy to get into for in-state students, so I am not worried about not having options (even if that is one of my only options I will be satisfied).
Keep in mind that your safeties MUST be affordable, and often students find out that they can’t afford their “dreaded state U.” Do you know for sure that your parents will pay for your state U or any other “safety”?
You wrote that you got an ACT 30 in June and that your recent ACT results gave you a 32, but back in February, you wrote this:
I am junior in high school and I have taken both the SAT and ACT. I took the SAT sophomore year and got a 1700. I took the ACT recently and got a 33. <<<
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So, did you really have an ACT 33???
Sorry I was posting for a friend who is interested (top choice) in Stanford. He had a 33 and 1700. My top isn’t Stanford, I would actually rather go to Berkeley (I think I would fit in there better). And yes, my family can afford our state school. It’s Chapel Hill by the way, so not so bad. And I am applying to a few other safeties; I wouldn’t really call UNC a safety, but I’m not so worried about getting in since I am in-state, and my high school is pretty much a feeder to UNC.
Also, how much do you think Duke in-state would help? I know not a lot, but do you think it puts me in a decent place? (I have one unique EC, and decent involvement/leadership positions in my others, along with hella community service. I will keep my unique EC confidential for anonymity reasons, but it’s not so ~huge~ - it really just shows my extreme passion for something and shows my intellectual curiosity for that same passion) .
In terms of finance, so we are all clear, my family would rather pay near-full tuition to Duke, than in-state tuition to UNC. That is what they would want (and me too kind of), but I doubt I would burden my family with that if I am accepted.
@waddups - just curious, why Duke over UNC? Is it a specific program? Is it the prestige factor of Duke?
I’m a NC native and it still breaks my heart (a quarter century later) that I didn’t get in to UNC (but I was applying from OOS in high school because my family had moved).
@SouthFloridaMom9 Hey, I’m not really interested in the prestige factor of Duke. My brother and sister both attend UNC, so I (not trying to sound mean or anything) do not want to go to school with them. Also, I like the Duke campus way more than UNC. And one cannot deny the more opportunities available at Duke over UNC (worth the extra 40k/year? probably not, but if you have the money why not?). As I said before, I would probably choose UNC over Duke because of the in-state tuition, but my family would want me to go to Duke. Why? Because of the prestige. But I would like to reiterate, the prestige difference between the two schools is not large enough to make a true impact on my decision, but my parents are another story. In the end, it is my decision, and my parents understand that.
Makes sense - I could definitely see if you want to break away a bit and do something different from your siblings. Wish you the best of luck!