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Articles / Applying to College / Getting ACT Scores to Colleges Fast

Getting ACT Scores to Colleges Fast

Sally Rubenstone
Written by Sally Rubenstone | Dec. 31, 2003

Question: I am an older community college student hoping to transfer to a competitive four-year university in September. I just found out that I need to retake the standardized tests that I took over a decade ago when I was in high school. I can schedule ACT's the first week of February, but the results may not get to the colleges I am applying to in time. How will this affect my chances of admission?

Rather than waiting for official score reports to be mailed to you and your target colleges, we suggest that you pay to see your ACT scores online, which will be possible by Feb. 17-19 (for an $8 fee for each viewing). Look at your scores with your community college transfer counselor (or an equivalent college official) present, and then have her (or him) telephone the scores to the colleges that need them immediately, offering assurances that the official version of your score report is on the way. Many colleges will be able to make decisions based on this sort of verbal report or may ask your counselor to follow up by e-mail, letter, or fax.


For more information on ACT online score reports, go to: http://www.act.org/early/info.html

Good luck!

Written by

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.

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