How Good is A Score of 31 on the ACT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

Overly simplistic and cynical interpretation. The fact of the matter is that there are more white, middle class, public school kids at Harvard today than there were 20 years ago and far more than 50 years ago. Yes, at a school like Harvard the test scores skew very high, but there are plenty of extremely strong colleges with a 31 ACT as the midpoint of the range (UCLA Bucknell, Lehigh, Hamilton, Colgate, SUNY Binghamton, and the list goes on).

[Anonymous]

With a 31, most of the top colleges will be out of reach unless you have a serious hook. Retake and aim for 33 and above. That should get your child in range for the top schools.

[Anonymous]

My child got a 32 the first time and his counselor said it was not good enough for top schools. He prepared, got a 35, and was admitted to his top choice. I would definitely recommend a retake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Wow.. Real top tier schools. Let me guess, merit aid from the privates were like 10-15k?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Wow.. Real top tier schools. Let me guess, merit aid from the privates were like 10-15k?

You couldn't pay me enough to go to Marquette.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

Not sure where you got blah grades from my comment that DD is a very strong student at a competitive school. Reading comprehension is lacking apparently so you wouldn't get a very high score on the ACT sadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

I hate to say but PP is mostly correct. The only part I'd disagree is international kids competing with American kids for the same admission spots. They are on a different pool of applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Wow.. Real top tier schools. Let me guess, merit aid from the privates were like 10-15k?

Well, if you are the kind of person who thinks only Ivy League schools are worthy, then these schools wouldn't measure up. But I've never had that attitude because frankly, I think it does kids a great disservice. And the merit awards ranged from 12K-25K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

I hate to say but PP is mostly correct. The only part I'd disagree is international kids competing with American kids for the same admission spots. They are on a different pool of applicants.

Not at the less prestigious liberal arts colleges. (this comment also applies to law schools). If the school is handing out large merit scholarshiops, that money has to come from somewhere. The international students are thrilled to come to the U.S. and thrilled to pay full freight. The lesser known law schools are filling their seats with them and say that from a professor's point (or Dean's) of view, those students are the best because they come prepared for class, they don't have any attitude, they are astronished at the freedoms that Americans have and they contribute to classroom discussion. The same thing is happening in the other colleges and universities -- often, however, to be able to throw out the stat. "We are a world-class college - we have students from 141 countries, etc.". Same is true with the Ivies - they want a student from every country in the world. Thirty years ago there was only one foreign student in my law school class and none in my college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

Overly simplistic and cynical interpretation. The fact of the matter is that there are more white, middle class, public school kids at Harvard today than there were 20 years ago and far more than 50 years ago. Yes, at a school like Harvard the test scores skew very high, but there are plenty of extremely strong colleges with a 31 ACT as the midpoint of the range (UCLA Bucknell, Lehigh, Hamilton, Colgate, SUNY Binghamton, and the list goes on).

'


Not true. And I went to Harvard. Middle class can no longer afford it. There are no merit scholarships. So it's either the rich or the financial aid kids and they don't want white, they want diversity and international studients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

Overly simplistic and cynical interpretation. The fact of the matter is that there are more white, middle class, public school kids at Harvard today than there were 20 years ago and far more than 50 years ago. Yes, at a school like Harvard the test scores skew very high, but there are plenty of extremely strong colleges with a 31 ACT as the midpoint of the range (UCLA Bucknell, Lehigh, Hamilton, Colgate, SUNY Binghamton, and the list goes on).

'


Not true. And I went to Harvard. Middle class can no longer afford it. There are no merit scholarships. So it's either the rich or the financial aid kids and they don't want white, they want diversity and international studients.

What?! We make $170K, which is hardly middle class, and Harvard was cheaper than state schools for us. For 90% of the country, Harvard, and most other top 20 schools, is cheaper than state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

Overly simplistic and cynical interpretation. The fact of the matter is that there are more white, middle class, public school kids at Harvard today than there were 20 years ago and far more than 50 years ago. Yes, at a school like Harvard the test scores skew very high, but there are plenty of extremely strong colleges with a 31 ACT as the midpoint of the range (UCLA Bucknell, Lehigh, Hamilton, Colgate, SUNY Binghamton, and the list goes on).

'


Not true. And I went to Harvard. Middle class can no longer afford it. There are no merit scholarships. So it's either the rich or the financial aid kids and they don't want white, they want diversity and international studients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

Overly simplistic and cynical interpretation. The fact of the matter is that there are more white, middle class, public school kids at Harvard today than there were 20 years ago and far more than 50 years ago. Yes, at a school like Harvard the test scores skew very high, but there are plenty of extremely strong colleges with a 31 ACT as the midpoint of the range (UCLA Bucknell, Lehigh, Hamilton, Colgate, SUNY Binghamton, and the list goes on).

'


Not true. And I went to Harvard. Middle class can no longer afford it. There are no merit scholarships. So it's either the rich or the financial aid kids and they don't want white, they want diversity and international studients.

What?! We make $170K, which is hardly middle class, and Harvard was cheaper than state schools for us. For 90% of the country, Harvard, and most other top 20 schools, is cheaper than state schools.

+1, there is a lot of misinformation out there about these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, it depends on the school. Not much merit $$ for a 31. More importantly, did your child prep for this test? If not, lots of prep and practice definitely can increase scores.

This is absolute bull. My child, with a 29, got merit at every single private school she applied to and one of the publics- Marquette, AU, Drexel, Loyola in Chicago, Belmont, and Miami of Ohio.

If you are fixated on the top 50 schools or whatever there's not much merit, but it is so so so so false that there is not much merit for a 31 on the ACT.

Thank you for posting this! I've heard that from many others too. People like to state things on this forum as though they are the absolute expert on the subject and they are often completely wrong. My DD has not gotten her scores back yet for the ACT and she will likely take it twice but I know that if she ends up with a 29 she will be competitive for merit money at good places. She is a very strong student at a competitive school and I know for a fact, based on common data set, that many schools "consider" test scores but say that rigor and essay (or other factors) are "very important". Not everyone is meant to take multiple choice tests, in fact for the rest of their lives they will be asked to contribute much more to their environments than filling out a bunch of bubbles on a sheet. Many great schools know that and can't wait to get these kids on their campus.

Oh, honey, i wish that were true, but you are in a seller's market. Admissions doesn't give a damn about your kid unless your child possesses something they want - an athelete, a URM statistic, a famous name, a super wealthy parent, a legacy that matters, extraordinary feats of strength, amazing musician, or already published in some field - your child is just a bunch of numbers to them. That's why there are no interviews for most schools. It's all about GPA/rigor/ACT score/SAT II subject matter test scores/and rank in class. That's why after the EA classes are announced you see schools bragging that the EA class, alone, like this: "The average ACT score of the admitted pool is 33. For SAT, the average score of those admitted is 1453 out of 1600 (2166 out of 2400). The admitted students have taken an average of more than 10 college-level courses and 96 percent have taken an Advanced Placement calculus course." Every school now does this because they are ALL fighting to climb a rank on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And if you think your kid with middling scores will get in to a selective university, think again because there are now millions of extremely talented international students, mostly from China and India, who will kill to get a slot at an American college or University. Until it stops being a seller's market (and I don't see any end in sight - the system is broken but I can't tell you how to fix it unless the rankings stops), an American student with blah stats and grades is going to have to throw a lot of applications out there

Overly simplistic and cynical interpretation. The fact of the matter is that there are more white, middle class, public school kids at Harvard today than there were 20 years ago and far more than 50 years ago. Yes, at a school like Harvard the test scores skew very high, but there are plenty of extremely strong colleges with a 31 ACT as the midpoint of the range (UCLA Bucknell, Lehigh, Hamilton, Colgate, SUNY Binghamton, and the list goes on).

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Not true. And I went to Harvard. Middle class can no longer afford it. There are no merit scholarships. So it's either the rich or the financial aid kids and they don't want white, they want diversity and international studients.

Went to Harvard in the mid 80's and had the same percentage of AA students in my class as they have right now. Also, there were considerably fewer lower middle class kids than there are today (20% of student body is now Pell Grant eligible). Yours is a nice narrative that fits the current political climate, but it isn't at all supported by the facts. Hmmm, that also sounds quite familiar.