High school students dread the ACT. We’ve all been there. The pressure and the anxiety is overwhelming. A simple test could make the difference in getting into the college of your dreams, or in getting the scholarship to afford it.

That simple score is a number that stays with you for years to come. And it is also a number for colleges and universities to wave around like a badge of honor: Colleges want to show that they have the best and the brightest out there.

Simpson, like other institutions, wants to bring in bright, young, talented minds to help make Simpson the best college money can buy. The college regularly finds itself on the U.S. News & World Report rankings for top Midwest liberal arts colleges. These rankings are based on a number of factors, including academic excellence.

While ACT scores can hardly be considered the one statistic that truly matters, it does make a difference.

The average ACT scores for freshman classes at Simpson have fallen consistently over the past three years. The average ACT score for this year’s freshman class is 23.81 after peaking at 24.58 in 1999.

As of now, Simpson does not have a minimum ACT requirement for its applicants, a requirement that some colleges and universities have included in addition to a minimum GPA requirement. Coe College requires an ACT score of 20 for its applicants.

ACT scores should not be the sole qualifier for admission into Simpson, but setting a high standard is a must for holding onto the distinction of a quality institution.