High ACT score without writing for college application?

[JadeOrchidSong]

Ds got his ACT score three days ago. He has improved 8 points over his PreACT, much to his and our surprise. I did not ask him to sign up for writing because I thought he would not do very well considering his PreACT score. So now we regret it. 

I know some schools do not require ACT writing. U of MN College of Science and Engineering is his goal, with computer science as major. U of MN says it "recommend ACT writing but considers application without writing complete". I am just afraid for the sane 34 composite score students with ACT writing score would be preferred over ds. 

What would you do? Ds normally does not test well. So he is unsure to get 34 if he takes it again. I told him to just take it again and if it is much lower than 34, he can just use this 34 without the writing score. 

Though we would like him to attend St. Olaf college for the small size and easiness to double major, he is very unhappy that St. Olaf accepts only very limited PSEO credits. He really wants to go to the U of MN. It's only 2 miles from us. He is attending on campus PSEO at Concordia University for junior and senior years. 

Thanks for your input. 

[catz]

Hey there - we are MN residents.  Does he have a PSEO grade in composition?  Does he have an essay he can include with his U of MN application (like the common app essay)?   Can he get a reference from an English teacher (or a writing based class?).  If he can do 1 or 2 of those things, I think that would be fine.  I am sure he will get accepted to both those schools.  If he is a senior and applying right now, I wouldn't want to mess with the uncertainty taking those tests again.  And the U of MN does rolling admissions.  My kid got acceptance there within a couple weeks which was stress relieving.  But as the admissions season goes on, I think they may get pickier and there is less space.  ETA - I also suspect you're more likely to be offered merit money with an earlier app!

My kid applied and was accepted to both those schools and isn't attending either.  Saint Olaf is terrible with PSEO credits.  And they've gotten stingy with merit too.  My kid had a similar ACT score/4.0 PSEO and we were a bit disappointed.  There is additional back story to his situation but that was a top choice until the end for him and we had a bad experience on our last visit.  Oh and he did do writing on the ACT, but he had an awful/ho hum/average score in writing.  He actually scored better the previous year   And that didn't seem to affect him at all (had decent essays which we included where possible, A's in 2 college comp classes, and a reference from a PSEO comp teacher).  Though if you are in a position to get need based aid, you may do better at Olaf.  My kid got very generous merit money from the U of MN and your kid may be well positioned too.  Don't worry about honors for CSE, all those kids are honors kids.  He may or may not be offered honors.  Anyway, it was going to cost us considerablymore a year at Saint Olaf over the U of MN in our situation, but everyone's situation is different.  I actually think if he wants to do tech/stem, CSE is a better/stronger choice.  Both my spouse and I have worked, hired and graduated in STEM areas in the cities.   And the U of MN was much more accommodating to talk about double major/double degree than I expected.  My kid is doing double degree at a different school now (including a stem degree most likely).  

You are welcome to PM me too!  Good luck!  

Edited November 16, 2019 by FuzzyCatz

[JadeOrchidSong]

Thank you very much for your detailed response. Last time I checked with Olaf, they said they accept 16 PSEO credits. 

Ds really wants to go to the U, main reason being the U is very generous about accepting PSEO credits. He is a junior right now. He applied with a PreACT of 26 to the U and did not get accepted. Now he has an ACT of 34, we would like him to apply for PSEO at the U for his senior year. That way he will take classes there, no worry about transferability, and he gets to prove he can do well there and will hopefully get into College of Science and Engineering more easily. 

 

[catz]

23 minutes ago, JadeOrchidSong said:

Thank you very much for your detailed response. Last time I checked with Olaf, they said they accept 16 PSEO credits. 

Ds really wants to go to the U, main reason being the U is very generous about accepting PSEO credits. He is a junior right now. He applied with a PreACT of 26 to the U and did not get accepted. Now he has an ACT of 34, we would like him to apply for PSEO at the U for his senior year. That way he will take classes there, no worry about transferability, and he gets to prove he can do well there and will hopefully get into College of Science and Engineering more easily. 

 

Oh he's applying for PSEO for next year?  Sorry I misunderstood.  I wouldn't sweat the essay for one second then.  I'm sure that will be no problem at all.  If he's an erratic tester, I also wouldn't want to have a drastically different score in the system in case it might get flagged for investigation,etc.  

Yes - we also heard 16 credits on PSEO but it seemed they were fussy on what could be plugged in to fill requirements,etc.  I do like a lot of things about Saint Olaf but would have at least preferred more flexibility on electives, double majoring, etc with those DE credits.  

[JadeOrchidSong]

He does want to apply to the U as college student after he finishes PSEO. PreACT score of course is not considered for college application. He will use this ACT score to apply for both PSEO and regular college. He did test decently well for all his IOWA tests. He worked very hard for three months in the spring and summer (May-July) reviewing and studying new materials for math as well as some time for English and science. Now with almost one semester of preCal at college level, he improved his math and overall test score a lot. 

[catz]

Way to go!  I'm sure he's in great shape to pop right in and be successful at the U of MN.  And the Comp Sci program there really is first rate.  DH is a software engineer with hiring experience and I was in a past life.