Are Sending ACT Scores Really Free?

You start to register for the ACTs or SATs thinking that it will take about ten minutes. 30 minutes later you are still in the thick of answering questions about your classes, your grades and your career aspirations.  

Why do they need this information? What are they going to do with it?  Should I list the four colleges that I want to send my scores to for free?  If you elect this option, you are unintentionally provided more information to colleges than you may want.  

When colleges receive the free scores, they also receive a detailed report including a summary of how you answered the previous questions.  Included in that report is your supposed rankings of your top priority schools, based on how you listed the schools you wanted to receive the free score report.  

Below are two articles that detail the specifics of what colleges see and how the information is collected and used.  The first one is written by Compass Prep called What Your ACT Score Report Looks Like to Colleges.    The second is from StudyPoint and called ACT Score Report.

If you don’t mind paying to send your scores once you know where you are applying and which are your top schools, it’s a good idea to wait. You can not only have more control over which scores you send, but you can also avoid schools assuming you are ranking schools in a particular order.