As talk of the ACT circulates the school, juniors cringe in their seats and groan every time someone brings it up. This is clearly the most stressful week for any junior because as much as we wish it were not true, the ACT really does depend on which college you get accepted into.
As a child, many of us dream of attending the University of Michigan, some might even dream bigger in thoughts of attending Harvard or Brown, but lets face it, if you do not get at least a 30 on your ACT, your chances of getting accepted into either of these schools is slim to nothing. Imagine dreaming about one school your entire life, and preparing to go there, but the second you open the letter displaying your scores, your dreams are shot down in a moments time.
My father has averaged a 3.817 GPA in his four years of college. A few months ago, he decided on a whim that he wanted to go to law school and become a lawyer. He studied for weeks prior to the test, but after receiving only a 165 on his LSAT test—a perfect score is a 180—he was only accepted into lower level law schools that he had no interest in attending. The upper level law schools required a near perfect score and almost completely ignored his superior grades. The cycle continues as another person's dream is shot down.
While us juniors have yet to attend college, we are in the same position. Many of us are fearful of this monstrous test because in a way, this can determine our future. While some prepare months prior to the test by reading strategies and tips and taking practice tests, many of us do not really know what to expect. We all ask ourselves the same question, why do colleges look straight towards our test scores? Why do they ignore all of the great things we have done with our time while in high school and focus on this one test, that many of us agree reflects nothing of what we have learned in the past three and a half years of high school.
Senior Ryann Trail, who took the test last year,...