- [ ] Do Ivy League/Elite colleges consider a 31 ACT score from a Black female applicant competitive?

Answered

Short answer - YES

Long answer - Being Black in America means you typically live in a less resourced school district, have less family income which results in less household budget to pay for test prep lessons, materials and afford testing. It also means that you are in general not as supported by your community and encouraged to spend all you waking hours focused on schools and ECs. There are of course some exceptions like Black students who are on full scholarship to private schools and boarding schools. Being from Mississippi, I assume you are not one of those Black girls that attend a private NorthEastern boarding school.

According to ACT.org, the average differential between Black and White students is 4.2 Points when comparing composite ACT test scores. There is a similar differential scale that applies to SAT test scores as well. Some studies have indicated a 177 point advantage for being White vs Black with regards to SAT test scores.

Therefore it is fair to assume that having a 31 ACT composite test score is very competitive for your demographic. If Ivys/Elites/(top liberal arts colleges like Williams,Swarthmore.Amherst) look at your file, you will be judged against Whites and Asians who have perhaps 34s and 35s on their ACT. Since LatinX ACT test takers typically do better than Black students, you will compared to those with perhaps 32s/33s on their ACTs.

My advice to you is nevertheless to try to improve your composite superscore even by a point. So if there is an area that has a lower individual score, I would study that very hard and try to improve that before you apply to colleges. On the SAT Reading and English seem to be easier for most than Math and Science, so as a Black Female, I think it would look really good if you had 33,33,31,31 kind of narrative versus a 33,32,30,29 if that makes any sense to you. And if you can get your English or Reading to like a 34, even better.

Why am I saying congrats but don't settle at the same time? Because you don't want to rely on all these colleges playing the race card. They will for the most part, but you will feel better about the college admissions process and getting in to a top college if you know yourself that you tried your very best and you got a great score. So if your roommate or some random person at Brown or UPenn or Stanford asks you what your test score is, you don't have to say a 31. It would make you feel better it was in the 25-75% percentile range. No one wants a hand out even if they deserve one.

One resource that helped me to 35+ ACT was the supertutor online course. It's like $250 but totally worth it.

Hope that helps and keep up the good work.