<p>Is a 32 or higher a competitive score? </p>
<p>There is no one particular number that is better than another per se (other than trying to have the highest score possible for YOU)…it is in context to the rest of your application strengths…</p>
<p>…look at their Common Data Set numbers to get an idea…<a href=“Stanford Common Data Set | University Communications”>http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/2013</a></p>
<p>36.
I know it sounds crazy but sometimes perfection is necessary.</p>
<p>
The CDS link in the post preceding yours mentions 25th and 75th percentile scores of 31 and 34, so why do you think you need to have a 36?</p>
<p>A good ACT score won’t get you in to Stanford by itself. If the rest of the application is what they are looking for, they’ll overlook a test score below their published averages. One of my (legacy) kids was accepted with a 34, the next turned down with a 35.<br>
There are probably many applications with a 36 composite that get rejected.</p>
<p>@stahboy Stanford is a reach for everyone. The higher you can push up that score, the better your chances. With the acceptance asymptotically reaching zero, you would probably need either super good ecs or at least 35 on the act</p>
<p>Earlier in the thread, I mentioned that Stanford’s CDS indicates 25th and 75th ACT scores of 31 and 34. Most other highly selective colleges have a bit higher scores including Notre Dame, WUSTL, Vanderbilt, most ivies, MIT, Mudd, etc. Stanford has a lower acceptance rate than all of these colleges and an equally or more competitive applicant pool, so why don’t they have the highest test scores? </p>
<p>Test scores are only a small portion of the application, and one Stanford weights less than many similar schools. You aren’t going to get in on just stats alone, even if you have a 4.0 UW + 2400 SAT + 36 ACT + the max APs your school offers. Similarly you aren’t going to be dismissed on stats alone with any scores in the range discussed in this thread, nor is it impossible for unhooked applicants to get in with a 32, like the OP. Obviously, he’d have better odds with a 75th+ percentile score of 34+, but probably not a great deal better. </p>
<p>The ACT scores of rejected and accepted posters in this year’s RD thread are listed below. Note that there was not a positive correlation between test scores and acceptances in this sample. Instead the accepted posters had a slightly lower median test score than the rejected posters.</p>
<p>accepted – 28, 30, 31, 33, 33, 34, 34, 35, 35, 35 – median = 33.5
waitlisted - 31, 35 – median = 33
rejected – 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 35, 35, 36 – median = 34.5</p>
<p>Read what @Data10 and what Dean Shaw has said in his recent interview with Stanford Daily…Stanford can easily fill their class with 4.0/2400 several times over IF they wanted to…but they don’t (thank goodness). They want students who will be future leaders in medicine, law, business, politics, humanities, social sciences, art, music, theater, engineering, technology, and computer science…who think outside-the-box…who question everything and anything…students who are willing to learn from their MISTAKES…students who are not necessarily PERFECT…students who don’t waste valuable time taking the same test over and over again to get “2400/36” on a “test” or students who take “easy” less challenging classes to get a higher “GPA”…NO.</p>
<p>…they are NOT looking for future “paper pushers” who want to SAFELY sit behind a desk at a Wall Street firm to collect their paycheck…instead, they look for game-changers, DISRUPTERS…students who just may be askew enough…special in a particular way…</p>
<p>…KNOW of anyone like this?</p>
<p>Thank you guys for all the replies!</p>