Colleges That Superscore the ACT

January 6, 2022

By AdmissionSight

Colleges That Superscore the ACT: What High Schoolers Need to Know

The ACT has been a fundamental part of the college admissions process for decades. Despite the recent resurgence of the test-optional movement, there are still thousands of colleges and universities throughout the country that accept and even require applicants to submit the ACT or its counterpart – the SAT. It’s important that you know more about the colleges that superscore ACT.

Your ACT score is an accurate way for college admissions officers to determine your college readiness while making it possible to compare your performance with that of fellow applicants. After all, it’s difficult to accurately evaluate different applications without a standardized method of comparison. Standardized tests provide this method of evaluation.

While most applicants are at least somewhat familiar with the standard ACT score, many are interested in learning more about the so-called ACT superscore. There are many colleges that superscore the ACT which can help improve the admissions chances of an applicant by combining and averaging different ACT scores.

Knowing the colleges that superscore the SAT is an important factor for many students when determining where to apply. Here, we’re going to take a deep dive into the purpose of the superscore, how it can benefit students, and which colleges are offering it.

What is the ACT Superscore?

The ACT superscore is an average of an applicant’s highest scores from each subject: English, reading, mathematics, and science. These scores are pulled from various times a student takes the ACT test. An ACT superscore is always going to end up being higher than the single composite scores you received after taking the standardized test once time.

Every student who takes the ACT more than once will automatically receive an ACT superscore that’s accessible from within their MyACT account. If you want to gain a rough understanding of what your superscore might look like, you can use a free ACT super score calculator provided on the ACT website.

It’s crucial to know that you might not be applying to colleges that superscore the ACT. Some only look at your best singular performance instead of taking a composite. Although the ACT organization has come out in support of accepting the superscore in college admissions, each school sets its own policies in that area.

ACT Superscore Example

Still not clear on what an ACT superscore looks like? No problem! Let’s take a look at a hypothetical example of somebody who took the test three times. Their results were:

	March	May	June
English	34	31	32
Reading	35	34	32
Science	27	24	28
Math	27	28	29
Composite	31	29	29

As you can see, the composite scores might not vary greatly between the different attempts but the scores of individual parts of the exam fluctuate. Furthermore, the test-taker didn’t have a linear progression of improvement. To calculate the ACT superscore, the highest scores of each section (highlighted above in yellow) are combined for a new composite. This represents the best possible score that can be gleaned from the applicant’s results. In this example, here’s the ACT superscore:

English	Reading	Science	Math	Composite
34	35	28	29	32

In this hypothetical scenario, the highest ACT score the applicant was able to achieve after taking the test three different times was 31. That’s not a bad score, but the ACT superscore was even better with a total of 32. The superscore calculation isn’t going to automatically get you into your dream college, but it certainly improves the quality of your application.

Why did ACT superscoring get started?

The entire point behind standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT is to help college admissions officers gain a better understanding of how a student would succeed at their schools. After all, applications don’t provide a ton of insight into a student’s objective abilities. GPAs and course curricula are good indicators but not everything.

Standardized tests provide an objective and standardized way for colleges and universities to compare and contrast the performance of various applicants on their performance with college-level material. The content of the ACT is more similar to what you’d see during your first year in college than your high school material.

By measuring your college readiness, the ACT gives admissions officers an additional way to gauge your eligibility for their school. On the flip side, standardized tests give applicants another way to catch the attention of admissions officers in a sea of other applicants. In other words, the ACT is an excellent opportunity to increase your chances of getting accepted.

So, how does the ACT superscoring come into play? Well, over the years, ACT researchers (yes, there is such a thing) suggested combining the top section scores over multiple ACT attempts to give students an overall improved score. But this recommendation didn’t just come out of sincere goodwill.

In fact, the ACT researchers found that this superscore calculation was actually a better indication of how a student would perform in college classes. In other words, the superscore gave admissions officers a clearer picture of how a particular applicant would do at their school if accepted.

These findings remained even when adjustments were made for a variety of different factors such as gender, ethnicity, race, and income. In short, this showed that the ACT superscore is a fair and equal way to measure the performance of students while also giving admission officers more accurate insights into the capabilities of applicants – two things that colleges that superscore the ACT want to take advantage of.

Seeing these undeniable results and with a considerable push from the ACT organization itself, colleges and universities around the country began to factor ACT superscores into their admissions decisions. Through automatic superscoring, you can send your ACT superscores to participating colleges without having to show your composite scores no matter how many times you took the exam.

An increased focus on ACT superscores.

SAT superscoring has been a practice at colleges for many years. Recently, there’s been an increase in schools applying the same calculation to applicant ACT scores.

This is partially due to the rising popularity of the ACT as more and more students choose to take it every year. In fact, the number of high schoolers taking the ACT has recently surpassed those taking the SAT.

Before applying to college, it’s important to understand its ACT superscoring policy. Although it’s an increasing practice, colleges that superscore the ACT are still in the minority. It’s not that applying to a school that doesn’t superscore is a bad idea. Instead, it’s just important to understand their scoring policies to get a better understanding of your competitiveness.

Your chances of getting accepted to a school that superscores might be higher than at a school that simply takes your highest ACT composite score. As we mentioned earlier, your ACT superscore is always going to be higher than your highest ACT score.

Of course, there are a variety of other factors involved in determining your chances of acceptance, but it’s still an important consideration. If you can’t find a college’s superscoring policies online, feel free to contact their admissions officer. The number of colleges that superscore the ACT is always growing, so you can’t always trust outdated info online.

They’ll be more than happy to provide you with the most up-to-date and accurate information regarding their ACT superscoring practices. This information should get factored into your decision about which schools to apply to.

Colleges that superscore the ACT

It’s crucial to know the colleges that superscore the ACT to determine where this score is counted. Here, we’ve compiled a complete list of all colleges and universities that currently recognize the ACT superscore:

Adelphi University
Albion College
Allegheny College
American University
Amherst College
Antioch College
Appalachian State University
Austin College
Babson College
Bard College
Baruch College (CUNY)
Bates College
Baylor University
Becker College
Beloit College
Bentley University
Berea College
Boston College
Brooklyn College (CUNY)
California Institute of Technology
California Polytechnic State University
California State Polytechnic University – Pomona
California State University – Stanislaus
Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary
Canisius College
Catawba College
Centenary College of Louisiana
Champlain College
Claremont McKenna College
Coastal Carolina University
Colby College
Colgate University
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University
College of the Atlantic
Colorado College
Colorado State University
Connecticut College
Cooper Union
Cornell College
Davidson College
Denison University
DePauw University
Dickinson College
Drew University
Duquesne University
Earlham College
East Carolina University
Eckerd College
Elmira College
Elon University
Emerson College
Fairfield University
Ferris State University
Flagler College
Florida Southern College
Florida State University
Franklin and Marshall College
Franklin College
Furman University
Georgetown College
Georgia Institute of Technology
Gettysburg College
Gonzaga University
Gordon College
Green Mountain College
Grinnell College
Grove City College
Hamilton College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampton University
Hanover College
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College
High Point University
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hofstra University
Hood College
Hunter College (CUNY)
Illinois Institute of Technology
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Iowa State University
Johns Hopkins University
Juniata College
Kalamazoo College
Kenyon College
Knox College
La Salle University
Lafayette College
Lake Forest College
Lawrence University
Le Moyne College
Lehigh University
Loyola University
New Orleans
Lynchburg College
Manhattanville College
Marist College
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Menlo College
Mercer University – Macon
Merrimack College
Messiah College
Miami University
Middlebury College
Milligan College
Mills College
Millsaps College
Monmouth University
Montclair State University
Mount Holyoke College
Nazareth College
New College of Florida
Niagara University
North Carolina State University
Northeastern University
Occidental College
Ohio Northern University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Pomona College
Radford University
Randolph College
Randolph-Macon College
Regis University
Rhodes College
Rice University
Rider University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Sacred Heart University
Saint Leo University
Saint Mary’s College
Saint Michael’s College
Sarah Lawrence College
Schreiner University
Seattle University
Seton Hall University
Sewanee: The University of the South
Simmons College
St. Bonaventure University
St. John’s College (MD)
St. John’s College – Santa Fe
St. John’s University
St. Lawrence University
State University of New York – Potsdam
State University of New York at Geneseo
Stetson University
Stonehill College
Suffolk University
SUNY at Purchase College
Susquehanna University
Swarthmore College
Syracuse University
Taylor University
Texas Christian University
The Catholic University of America
The College of Wooster
The George Washington University
The University of Montana
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of Tulsa
Trinity College
Trinity University
Tufts University
Union College
United States Coast Guard Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy
United States Military Academy
United States Naval Academy
University of Arkansas – Fayetteville
University of Chicago
University of Colorado – Boulder
University of Connecticut
University of Delaware
University of Denver
University of Georgia
University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Idaho
University of Jamestown
University of La Verne
University of Maine
University of Maryland – College Park
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Miami
University of New England
University of New Mexico
University of North Carolina at Asheville
University of North Carolina – Charlotte
University of North Florida
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
University of Portland
University of Puget Sound
University of Redlands
University of Rhode Island
University of Rochester
University of San Francisco
University of South Florida
University of St. Thomas
University of Tampa
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
University of the Incarnate Word
University of Vermont
University of Virginia
Ursuline College
Valparaiso University
Vassar College
Villanova University
Virginia Tech
Wabash College
Wake Forest University
Washington & Jefferson College
Washington State University
Washington University in St. Louis
Webb Institute
Wellesley College
Wells College
Wesleyan University
Wheaton College
Wheeling Jesuit University
Whitman College
Whitworth University
Willamette University
William Paterson University
Williams College
Winthrop University
Wofford College
Xavier University

It’s important to note that the list of colleges that superscore the ACT continues to grow. You should always check with your intended schools to determine their most recent policies regarding the ACT superscore.

How many times should you take the ACT?

Since there’s no technical limit to how many times you can take the ACT, there’s technically no limit to how many times you can attempt to improve your ACT superscore. However, it’s important to keep in mind some practical limitations.

First and foremost, as a busy high schooler completing your senior courses while preparing applications for multiple colleges, you don’t have a ton of free time on your hand. Secondly, each ACT will cost you an extra fee.

Perhaps the most important factor to note is that admissions officers don’t like to see too many ACT attempts. It can weaken an otherwise strong application. We advise students to only take a standardized test around three to four times – enough to maximize their score without catching the negative attention of admissions officers.

How to optimize your ACT superscore.

Getting a stellar ACT superscore is no different than aiming for a fantastic ACT score. The only difference is you have the added benefit of taking the best performance of each section from each time you took the ACT. Still, the same rules of studying, preparation, and strategy remain unchanged.

One of the most effective ways to improve your ACT scores – and, as a result, your final ACT superscore – is to work with a professional ACT tutor. AdmissionSight is a highly experienced instructor with over a decade of experience helping students best prepare for this standardized test.

We know what it takes to perform well on the ACT and can provide you with clear and personalized instructions to help you succeed. The high schoolers who work with our experienced instructors regularly score higher than 35 on the ACT! If you thought that score was out of reach…think again!

At AdmissionSight, we provide our students with real ACT exams that were formerly administered. This way, you can get an accurate understanding of what the exam is like, what material is covered, and how you perform. It’s one of the best ways to become familiar and comfortable with the contents of the ACT.

Typically, our students get to take a real ACT practice exam every week followed by an informative session with supplemental practice problems to more accurately determine a student’s strong points and weaknesses. Our instructors will custom-tailor instructions and practices to help students address their blind spots to optimize their ACT performance.

Work with a professional to increase your admissions chances.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with the college admissions process? You’re not alone! It’s perfectly natural for high schoolers to enter this transition phase with confusion and uncertainty. That’s where working with a college entrance expert can help!

With over a decade of experience helping students get into the school of their choice, the AdmissionSight team knows what it takes to gain admittance into some of the top schools in the country.

We offer a wide range of personalized services aimed at helping students perfect all parts of their application for a better chance at catching the attention of admissions officers.

Whether you need a hand perfecting your college essays, getting the best letters of recommendation, choosing the best high school courses, or anything in between, we’ve got you covered!

Sound like a good match? Feel free to contact us to schedule a free consultation. We’d be delighted to answer all of your questions.