Superscore on ACT - how or who actually calculates it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC said there was nowhere to put in a composite score for the SAT, only the highest section scores. I just looked at my parent practice account and, at least for the college I added (which is not one DC has started an application for yet, in case this is school specific) and DC was correct…the testing section did not ask for a composite.

I can confirm that the Common App testing section has never had a data field for composite SAT. Sometimes a college will add a field for it in its own questions section.

(OP is asking about ACT, which has always had a composite field, historically due to the nature of the test requiring speed and stamina.)

[Anonymous]

OK here – all really helpful responses. Thank you! So it sounds like he puts the 32 as his composite ACT and then he puts the section scores and the system or human does the math. The section scores are 36, 35 and 34 with math bringing everything down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK here – all really helpful responses. Thank you! So it sounds like he puts the 32 as his composite ACT and then he puts the section scores and the system or human does the math. The section scores are 36, 35 and 34 with math bringing everything down.

To be very clear, a human does not do the math. The system does.

[Anonymous]

Same here. DD has superscore 34 and composite 32. But I only listed 32 and the sections which were 30,32,36 and 36

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same here. DD has superscore 34 and composite 32. But I only listed 32 and the sections which were 30,32,36 and 36

You are doing this or your child? Do parents really fill out the common app for their kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same here. DD has superscore 34 and composite 32. But I only listed 32 and the sections which were 30,32,36 and 36

You are doing this or your child? Do parents really fill out the common app for their kids?

I know!

Helicopter....

[Anonymous]

No I didn't fill it out. He filled it out and I reviewed. What the counselor advised us to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK here – all really helpful responses. Thank you! So it sounds like he puts the 32 as his composite ACT and then he puts the section scores and the system or human does the math. The section scores are 36, 35 and 34 with math bringing everything down.

What was math?

[Anonymous]

His math was a 28

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK here – all really helpful responses. Thank you! So it sounds like he puts the 32 as his composite ACT and then he puts the section scores and the system or human does the math. The section scores are 36, 35 and 34 with math bringing everything down.

Same with my kid. Hoping to bring math up.

[Anonymous]

You're wise to question the process by which admissions offices superscore and update individual application files. Most of us who've worked in professional offices our entire lives know that such processes are imperfect, that if a file is "complete"--that is, it includes all of the required components even though one component is self-reported--it will likely NOT be updated by the reader. Too much work, too many applications to read, why bother making the update? You've already formed a solid impression of the applicant's academic merit based on the highest composite and individual section scores. No need to recheck the simple math (i.e., average of four two-digit scores) you've already calculated in your head.

The point is this--if your superscore is higher than any single composite score you've earned, DO NOT self-report through the common app. Instead, have the official superscore report sent to the school to ensure that the higher superscore composite is the first (and likely, the only) score seen by the application reader(a).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're wise to question the process by which admissions offices superscore and update individual application files. Most of us who've worked in professional offices our entire lives know that such processes are imperfect, that if a file is "complete"--that is, it includes all of the required components even though one component is self-reported--it will likely NOT be updated by the reader. Too much work, too many applications to read, why bother making the update? You've already formed a solid impression of the applicant's academic merit based on the highest composite and individual section scores. No need to recheck the simple math (i.e., average of four two-digit scores) you've already calculated in your head.

The point is this--if your superscore is higher than any single composite score you've earned, DO NOT self-report through the common app. Instead, have the official superscore report sent to the school to ensure that the higher superscore composite is the first (and likely, the only) score seen by the application reader(a).

Won’t the initial reviewer think they didn’t submit scores if it’s not on the common app in quick initial review?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're wise to question the process by which admissions offices superscore and update individual application files. Most of us who've worked in professional offices our entire lives know that such processes are imperfect, that if a file is "complete"--that is, it includes all of the required components even though one component is self-reported--it will likely NOT be updated by the reader. Too much work, too many applications to read, why bother making the update? You've already formed a solid impression of the applicant's academic merit based on the highest composite and individual section scores. No need to recheck the simple math (i.e., average of four two-digit scores) you've already calculated in your head.

The point is this--if your superscore is higher than any single composite score you've earned, DO NOT self-report through the common app. Instead, have the official superscore report sent to the school to ensure that the higher superscore composite is the first (and likely, the only) score seen by the application reader(a).

Won’t the initial reviewer think they didn’t submit scores if it’s not on the common app in quick initial review?

Yeah, 5:16 thinks it’s still 1984, when the page you typed up and submitted on your Selectric was the exact same page that the AO read. It’s not. Colleges program the common app at their end to suppress certain fields, recalculate GPAs and test scores, etc. The report the AO reads does not look exactly the same as what you submit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're wise to question the process by which admissions offices superscore and update individual application files. Most of us who've worked in professional offices our entire lives know that such processes are imperfect, that if a file is "complete"--that is, it includes all of the required components even though one component is self-reported--it will likely NOT be updated by the reader. Too much work, too many applications to read, why bother making the update? You've already formed a solid impression of the applicant's academic merit based on the highest composite and individual section scores. No need to recheck the simple math (i.e., average of four two-digit scores) you've already calculated in your head.

The point is this--if your superscore is higher than any single composite score you've earned, DO NOT self-report through the common app. Instead, have the official superscore report sent to the school to ensure that the higher superscore composite is the first (and likely, the only) score seen by the application reader(a).

Won’t the initial reviewer think they didn’t submit scores if it’s not on the common app in quick initial review?

Yeah, 5:16 thinks it’s still 1984, when the page you typed up and submitted on your Selectric was the exact same page that the AO read. It’s not. Colleges program the common app at their end to suppress certain fields, recalculate GPAs and test scores, etc. The report the AO reads does not look exactly the same as what you submit.

Just FYI, some universities have application reviewers recalculating GPAs manually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're wise to question the process by which admissions offices superscore and update individual application files. Most of us who've worked in professional offices our entire lives know that such processes are imperfect, that if a file is "complete"--that is, it includes all of the required components even though one component is self-reported--it will likely NOT be updated by the reader. Too much work, too many applications to read, why bother making the update? You've already formed a solid impression of the applicant's academic merit based on the highest composite and individual section scores. No need to recheck the simple math (i.e., average of four two-digit scores) you've already calculated in your head.

The point is this--if your superscore is higher than any single composite score you've earned, DO NOT self-report through the common app. Instead, have the official superscore report sent to the school to ensure that the higher superscore composite is the first (and likely, the only) score seen by the application reader(a).

Won’t the initial reviewer think they didn’t submit scores if it’s not on the common app in quick initial review?

Yeah, 5:16 thinks it’s still 1984, when the page you typed up and submitted on your Selectric was the exact same page that the AO read. It’s not. Colleges program the common app at their end to suppress certain fields, recalculate GPAs and test scores, etc. The report the AO reads does not look exactly the same as what you submit.

Just FYI, some universities have application reviewers recalculating GPAs manually.

With a spread sheet or something though, right? Or are you saying some of these schools pay fallible humans to sit around with pencil and paper making calculations by hand?