ACT scores are indictors of students’ final college decisions

A student’s ACT score can do more than just help an admissions officer determine if that student might be a good fit for the school, according to a new report. The test scores can also help indicate where a student is headed to college. According to ACT’s 2012 Enrollment Management Trends Report, ACT scores helped indicate where a student might go to school, if they are more likely to attend one of their top choices for college, and even the geographic location of the institution they will eventually attend.

Using data from students who took the test and were members of the Class of 2011, the report showed that the higher a student’s score, the higher the likelihood that they will attend their first choice pick of colleges. The data showed that a student with a composite score between 20 and 23 attended one of their top four picks of colleges more than 77 percent of the time. A perfect composite score on the ACT is 36.

The report also showed that the distance between a student’s college and home is greater when a student scores higher on the ACT. Students who scored between 33 and 36 had a median distance of 172 miles between their home and school. For students with a composite score between 20 and 23, the median distance between school and home was 45 miles.

“ACT scores are just part of the college enrollment process, and are a good predictor of future success when used with other student information, like high school grades,” said Steve Kappler, assistant vice president of educational services at ACT. “This report highlights the importance of colleges and universities understanding and using the ACT data they receive from students.”

The report also revealed four other characteristics about high school students who have taken the ACT:

• Students tend to enroll at colleges that match their stated preferences.


• Testing and enrollment behavior for students is dependent upon the practices in their respective states. “Compared with students from “ACT+” and ‘ACT’ states, ACT-tested students from ‘SAT+’ and ‘SAT’ states are more likely to first test in 12th grade, are less likely to send their test scores to any college when they register for the ACT, and are only slightly less likely to opt into EOS. These students are also significantly more likely to enroll out of state and to travel a greater distance from home to attend college,” explains the report’s key findings and recommendations.


• Student who take the ACT for the first time in 12th grade “are a largely overlooked subset of ACT-tested high school graduates.”


• A significant amount of high school graduates say they were inadequately prepared academically for college.