Select a topic:
The role of standardized tests in admission to TCU
What test scores you should submit with your application
How we use your test scores when reading your application
What scores are competitive for admission
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The role of standardized tests in admission to TCU
Opportunity to exhibit potential for academic success
Considered alongside other academic
credentials – no minimum score
At TCU, our goal is to use testing to give
you every possible opportunity to exhibit
potential for academic success. ACT or SAT
scores are helpful because they provide a
similar scale of performance for all applicants
on a nationally standardized exam. We do not
look at scores in isolation, however. Instead,
we consider the test scores alongside your other
academic credentials such as high school course
selection, grades in high school, class rank if
available, any college coursework completed, and
teacher recommendations. Consequently, there are
no ‘cut-scores’ which would either guarantee or
prevent admission to TCU.
What test scores you should submit with your application
- Submit either ACT or SAT – no preference
- Take the test prior to the application deadline – even if scores will arrive a bit later
- Report official scores from the test agency or from your high school
(we will accept scores reported on official transcripts)
If you’re applying as a freshman to TCU, you
must submit the official results of at least one
ACT or SAT Reasoning Test. We have no preference
which test you submit; each test is considered
with equal importance. You should talk with your
high school counselor if you are unsure which
test to take. For the ACT, we recommend but do
not require the writing/essay portion of the
exam.
You should plan to take the test prior to the
appropriate application deadline. In some cases,
your scores will not be available until after
the deadline – as long as you’ve requested the
scores be sent to TCU when you registered for
the exam, we will receive them in time to
consider them as part of your application.
TCU requires official test scores. Official
scores are ones that are reported to TCU
directly from the testing agency (www.collegeboard.org
or
www.actstudent.org) or that accompany an
official high school transcript and bear the
seal/signature of the high school registrar or
counselor.
How we use your test scores when reading your application
SAT: Highest Section – highest CR, highest M
and highest W (Super-Score)
ACT: Highest Composite from a single test
date
Better of SAT or ACT,
if you submit both
SAT Subject Tests not required
At TCU, we want to give
you the benefit of having taken a test more than
once. We encourage you to send scores from all
of the tests you have taken. We will look at the
best scores using the methods described below.
If you submit scores from more than one sitting
of the SAT Reasoning Test, we will consider your
highest section scores across multiple sittings
or test dates (“Super-Score”). We will consider
your highest Math, your highest Critical
Reading and your highest Writing
scores even if you earn them on separate test
dates. Please submit your scores from all test
dates that include a highest score on one of the
three sections of the SAT Reasoning Test. If
you’re not sure, you should submit all scores.
If you submit scores from the ACT, we will
consider your highest Composite score from a
single test date. Please submit your scores from
the test date that includes the highest ACT
Composite score. If you’re not sure, you should
submit all scores.
If you submit scores from both the SAT Reasoning
Test and the ACT, we will compare your best on
each test (according to the methods described
above), and then we will consider the score
which most benefits your application for
admission.
TCU does not require you to submit scores from
any SAT Subject Tests, though you may wish to do
so if you feel they will enhance your
application for admission.
TCU does not consider the results of the PSAT,
PLAN or any state-administered exam (e.g. TAKS)
in admission decisions.
What scores are
competitive for admission
At TCU, we consider your ACT or SAT scores in
the context of your entire application.
Therefore, we do not have a certain score that
will guarantee admission nor do we have a
certain scores that would automatically prevent
admission.
These mid-50 percent ranges represent scores
that are generally considered competitive for
admission when accompanied by other criteria
that indicate potential academic success. This
means that 25 percent of TCU freshmen scored
below 1630 or 23, and 25 percent of our freshmen
score above 1860 or 28. Half of them, or 50
percent, scored in the middle of this range.
Score Ranges for the 2008 Freshman Class at TCU
