<p>I’m a sophomore in high school, and didn’t study for the ACT at all, so I know I (hopefully) have the potential to raise my score by a few points. However, I’ve already accepted an athletic scholarship from University of Missouri, so I don’t think I’ll necessarily need a higher score.</p>
<p>Do you think there is any benefit in having a high ACT score? Or is it, at this point, purely for my own satisfaction? I want to go to a good medical school (somewhere NOT Missouri), but are ACT scores even a factor in acceptance to grad school?</p>
<p>Colleges offer basketball scholarships to underclassmen all the time. That really wasn’t the point, but hundreds of freshmen and sophomores give verbal commits every year, so I guess it really isn’t all that uncommon. The only reason I included that, though, was to put my question in context. I wasn’t trying to toot my own horn.</p>
<p>At best you have what the NCAA calls a “verbal commitment” at this time in relation to Mizzou; either side can change its mind as those are not binding on you or the college and an injury could easily lead to your being in a very different situation. Thus, you should view your ACT test at this point as what do you need in the event you do not get an athletic scholarship. In that vein, a 31 is already very high and more than good enough for a lot of colleges. Nevertheless, it is very low for MIT and Caltech and on the low side for some high rank colleges such as some of the ivies. In other words, whether you should retake depends on colleges to which you might apply and if you are actually planning to apply to a very high ranked college, you might consider it; you should be checking the middle 50% test score ranges of colleges you might be interested in.</p>
<p>As to medical school, you do not do that until after college and ACT is irrelevant to admission. The exception is for those colleges which have dual degree programs which admit you as a college freshman with the understanding that you will also go to the medical school if you do well enough in college. Initial admission to those programs goes to a small number of college freshman applicants with usually very high grades and test scores. To learn about those Google dual bachelors MD programs and then check the colleges and what kind of grades and scores are usually needed.</p>