My score in the ACT is 32, which I worked hard to achieve. I'm kinda stressed about it... Is this score in a good percentile range?
Absolutely! A score of 32 on the ACT is a strong score and is approximately in the 97th percentile. What that means is that you scored higher than 97% of test takers, which is quite impressive.
This score will make you a competitive applicant for many good colleges, universities, and even some quite selective ones. You'd be meeting or exceeding the 25th-75th percentile ACT scores for many colleges, which is a key benchmark. You can find the specific data for a particular school on their website, or through third parties like CollegeVine.
However, make sure you also focus on other aspects of your application like grades, coursework, essays, and extracurriculars. It's a combination of all these factors that colleges look at when determining admissions - no single credential will get you in on its own, especially at more selective institutions.
If you want to know how your application as a whole stacks up at a certain school, I'd check out CollegeVine's free chancing engine, which accounts for all quantifiable elements of your application, including not just test scores but also GPA, course rigor, and extracurriculars to give you personalized odds of acceptance at over 1,600 colleges across the country: https://www.collegevine.com/admissions-calculator
This tool will also give you suggestions on how to improve your chances, whether by raising your ACT score slightly or some other step, like earning a leadership position in one of your extracurriculars. Keep up the great work!
CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.