Hey everyone, I've been looking up college admission stats and came across the term 'ACT 25 percentile.' I'm not 100% sure what it means. Can someone explain it to me? Thanks!
Hello! The term "ACT 25 percentile" is a way to summarize how a group of admitted students performed on the ACT standardized test. When a college reports their "ACT 25 percentile" score, this means that 25% of their admitted students scored at or below that number on the ACT. In other words, it represents the lower end of the ACT score range for the middle 50% of admitted students (the other number typically provided is the "ACT 75 percentile" score, which represents the upper end of the range).
To put it into perspective, if a college's ACT 25 percentile is 28, this means that 25% of their admitted students had an ACT score of 28 or lower. This can give you an idea of the score range the college typically admits, but remember that standardized test scores are only one part of the admission process, and colleges often consider other factors, such as grades, extracurricular activities, and essays, in their holistic review process. So, while knowing these percentiles can help you understand the general competitiveness of a particular college, it's not the sole determining factor in whether you will be admitted.
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