Yep, I remember that. Basically, if you could form a coherent sentence, you passed. It was nice to start college with 3 free credits. Plus, I got out of my AP English test, which would have gotten me those three credits, but at a cost.
ACT
- Thread starter TitanClone
- Start date
Yep, I remember that. Basically, if you could form a coherent sentence, you passed. It was nice to start college with 3 free credits. Plus, I got out of my AP English test, which would have gotten me those three credits, but at a cost.
Yeah, that was a nice surprise. For me it was if you got a C- or higher in English 105, you also got credit for 104. Of course a C or higher was required for engineering, so it was a nice free credits, like you said.
It's still pretty much that way. I remember being sooo ticked 4 years ago when I realized all the AP classes I took were pretty much pointless, at least as far as Iowa State went.
You're GPA has you locked in for admission. 20X ... thank God it wasn't that way 12 years
no ago (can't beleive its been that long)I was pretty much the opposite. Crappy rank and GPA, good ACT scores.
wish you luck in CprE. remember graduating with an engineering degree is not so much about being smart (that will work too) its about being persistant.
start tapping your head against that brick wall and in 4-6 years you'll knock that sucker down. and you'll only cry a little.
Yeah I dont remember an essay when I applied 5 years ago, but it was a while ago... I was nice coming in with English credits, combine that with getting 12 Spanish credits for $100 from CLEP, it was nice to be a "semester" ahead when it came to registering for future semesters
Highly doubt you would get any scholarships in any engineering major based on ACT alone, so probably not worth it. FWIW, I got a 34 my junior year and rec'd $1,000 or so (+/- a bit) from ISU in Mechanical Engineering. At Iowa that would have been worth a full ride to the same program (not joking)--ISU is almost trying to weed out engineers and Iowa is trying to grow/attract people. Engineering at ISU is very, very competitive.
15 years ago I took my ACT once and didnt score too great, but good enough to get into ISU. The scholarships I got more than paid for my freshman year. A lot of sholarships look at things other than your grades and ACT score, but on how active you are in HS. Doing a good job when filling out he scholarship forms also goes a long ways.
Usually improvements the second time are due to practice effects (you're better at taking the test due to experience). Statistically speaking, you are not likely to significantly raise your score the third time you take the test.
It appears you will be admitted based on GPA, so there is no point in retaking for that reason.
As far as scholarships go, ACT usually doesn't mean crap. I got upwards of 30, and the only significant scholarship I got as a result was $2,500 that I had to buy life insurance to get. Even if you can raise your score, say to a 26, I highly doubt it would fetch you additional scholarships.
It appears you will be admitted based on GPA, so there is no point in retaking for that reason.
As far as scholarships go, ACT usually doesn't mean crap. I got upwards of 30, and the only significant scholarship I got as a result was $2,500 that I had to buy life insurance to get. Even if you can raise your score, say to a 26, I highly doubt it would fetch you additional scholarships.
I got a 33 and didn't get more than a couple thousand bucks. It takes a lot to get a good scholarship in Engineering.
Edit: If you can get into the program of your choice with your score, take it. If you want schoralships, you could always apply to another department, get a scholarship for a year or two, then switch majors to computer engineering. Don't know the ethics behind it, but it might work out better for you financially.
Last edited:
I got a 29 my first time. Iowa State called me and let me know they could give me an increased value scholarship if I re-took it and scored a 30.
Two tries later I got my 30.
So one point made a difference in my scenario... so it's possible it might for you... but possible it won't... it all depends. I just got lucky Iowa State called me out of the blue and told me that so I knew increasing my score would help.
Edit: And the increased scholarship was worth it as it raised the value by $5,500 and was potentially renewable but you had to meet rediculous criteria like staying in the top half percent of your engineering class to get that extra all 4 years.
Two tries later I got my 30.
So one point made a difference in my scenario... so it's possible it might for you... but possible it won't... it all depends. I just got lucky Iowa State called me out of the blue and told me that so I knew increasing my score would help.
Edit: And the increased scholarship was worth it as it raised the value by $5,500 and was potentially renewable but you had to meet rediculous criteria like staying in the top half percent of your engineering class to get that extra all 4 years.
Last edited:
Something similar happened to me...I accepted a small scholarship, and then someone called and said that I got a bigger scholarship, which amounted to half a full-ride. I didn't object.
I always wondered how that all happened. I didn't ask any questions.
Depends on what you like. When I was in CE, we had the option of taking two Chem classes or two Physics classes. I found Chem to be easier than Physics (but granted most of EM classes are physics based) so I took the two Chem classes and actually enjoyed them. As I enjoyed going to my chem classes, my fellow CE students who selected the two physics classes always dreaded going to the class.
I can vouch for this as well. I had a 33 as well as the class rank and GPA and I also got right around $1000 from the college of engineering, so from an ISU standpoint there isn't much there. I also fall into the dreaded scholarship hole that is the middle class white male, so that doesn't really help either.
It probably helped me a bit with some other scholarships outside of ISU, but I would say as far as getting in to the program and getting cash out of the college of engineering, you probably have all you need already.
Higher ACT score you have, better it is for certain scholarships. They do look at both HS GPAs and SCT scores when they are awarding scholarships. I know this, because I used to work for the admissions!
You can get your English/Math requirements satisfied if you have higher sore in ACT. I cant remember what exactly it was. I had like 35 in ACT math, so I took calc 2 instead of Algebra/Cal 1.
Good luck!
You can get your English/Math requirements satisfied if you have higher sore in ACT. I cant remember what exactly it was. I had like 35 in ACT math, so I took calc 2 instead of Algebra/Cal 1.
Good luck!
