Students who wait to see their ACT® test scores before sending them to colleges do not appear to gain an advantage in securing college admission, according to new research from ACT.
The findings of Expanding Opportunities—Part 2: Enrollment Patterns suggest that students who request their scores be sent when they register for the ACT are admitted at the same or higher rates as students who wait and send their scores later.
Students may send their scores to up to four colleges for free when they register to take the ACT. Students who wait until later to send scores must pay an additional fee for each report they send.
“Our findings do not support the advice that students commonly receive—to wait until they see their ACT scores before sending them to colleges,” said Wayne Camara, ACT senior vice president of research. “While that recommendation may sound logical, our data suggest that it may not be helpful. Students would actually be better off to take advantage of the free score reports to let colleges know they are interested and initiate the recruitment process sooner.”
The report’s recommendations suggest sending scores during registration is viewed by colleges as an expression of student interest in the school. It gives colleges a chance to reach out sooner to students and provide them with more timely information, allowing students greater opportunity to weigh their options.
As reported in Part 1 of the report, released this past November, fewer students are sending scores to colleges during registration. Nearly half (48 percent) of ACT-tested 2014 graduates passed up the opportunity to send their scores to up to four colleges for free when they registered to take the ACT, compared to only 28 percent in 2005.
The current findings also indicate that students who wait until later in high school to take the ACT could be missing out on college opportunities. Students who first took the ACT in 12th grade sent their scores to fewer colleges than those who first tested prior to 12th grade, on average, resulting in fewer recruitment opportunities.
The report suggests that opting out of ACT Educational Opportunity Service (EOS) could also result in a loss of opportunity. EOS is a free, optional service that provides students with information about educational opportunities and scholarships by making their names available to colleges and scholarship agencies that meet eligibility guidelines. Students who participate in EOS are more likely than those who don’t to be recruited by colleges, particularly those that are not currently in their consideration set or even in their awareness set.
Of the 1.8 million students in the 2014 U.S. high school graduating class who took the ACT, 69 percent enrolled in college in the fall after their graduation. This percentage has remained relatively stable over the past few years despite the growing percentage of graduates who took the ACT—from 52 percent in 2012 to 57 percent in 2014.
Among the ACT-tested 2014 graduates who enrolled in college:
- 76 percent attended a four-year college, while 24 percent attended a two-year college;
- 78 percent attended a public college, while 22 percent attended a private college;
- 36 percent attended a moderately or highly selective college, while 63 percent attended a less selective college (including 29 percent who attended an open-admissions college).
Expanding Opportunities looks at high school graduates from the class of 2014 who took the ACT.