The ACT? Who Cares?
All the fuss. All the stress.
Does it even matter what you get on the ACT? Here's why the answer is YES.
It matters for admission.
In 2017, Notre Dame received more than 18,000 applications for about 2,000 available seats in the freshman class. Creighton received almost 10,000 applications for about 1,000 available seats. Baylor received 32,000 applications for just over 3,000 seats.
How exactly do those schools filter THAT MANY applications???
Say what you want about the ACT. Believe what you want about standardized testing.
Think about this, though. It is literally impossible for any of those (or other) admissions offices to read tens of thousands of essays and closely examine every single high school transcript. It’s not going to happen.
They need a quick and consistent way to sift the candidates into categories – and that’s what the ACT is designed to do. It matters.
It matters for money.
How much would you study for $15,000? Two hours? Twenty hours? At what point would you say that you aren’t going to bother studying, because it’s just not worth it?
In Missouri, the Bright Flight program can award students up to $3000 per year for up to five years.
With an ACT of 30, you qualify for $0. With an ACT of 31, you qualify for $15,000.
One ACT point can be worth $15,000
More money?
Yes, please.
It’s more than that, though. Merit-based financial aid and scholarships at many schools are based on a student’s ACT (or SAT) score. Here’s just ONE example. At Mizzou,
- An ACT of 27 will earn you an Excellence Award of $4,000 or $8,000 over four years, depending on your class rank.
- An ACT of 28 will earn you the Curators Award of $18,000 over four years.
- An ACT of 31 will earn you The Chancellor’s Award of $26,000 over four years.
- An ACT of 33 will earn you the Mizzou Scholars Award of $40,000 over four years.
Every point you earn can be worth thousands of dollars!
It matters for pride.
Can we be honest for a sec?
When is the last time you played a game on your phone – repeatedly – just to get the highest score? What game was it: 2048? Ballz? Temple Run? Flappy Bird?? Maybe it was Xbox, PS2/PS3/PS4 ….whatever.
You played that game over and over (and over and over) – just to see how high you could score. And yet, that score didn’t matter. At all.
See where I’m going with this? This is the next “game” for you to play.
Learn the strategies. (We've got them for you!) Earn those bragging rights. Set the highest score you can.
This time, it matters.
It matters for you.
What kind of person are you? What do you like to think about yourself?
Are you the kind of person who thinks, “Eh. I only try if I have to, and I don’t care if anything I do is any good.” Probably not – or you wouldn’t be reading this.
Or, are you the kind of person who thinks, “I want to do my best. Whatever I have to do, I will do, so that my effort gets results. I know that I am capable of doing my best!” I bet you are, because you’re here. Excellence matters to you.
Yep. You got this!
You put in the repetitions at your dance, football, soccer, cheer, track, baseball, or volleyball practices. You know that practicing and listening to your coaches makes you better. This is no different.
By learning the right strategies, you can score better than you did before. You’ll score your best! By doing so, you’ll gain well-earned confidence, knowing that you have done the very best you could. Yes, this helps with college admissions, and it helps with the pressure from your parental-types.
But most of all, this is a measure of what you can achieve when you put forth the effort.
Do your best. The most important thing is what you can learn about yourself.