Which is more important in college admissions? I have a low GPA (~3.4) but a high ACT (34) and perfect subject test scores. A lot of people say that your GPA plays a bigger role because it reflects 7/2 years of work, whereas a test represents 3 hours. OTOH Some people say that standardized test scores are more important because of their universality and ease of comparing one student to another. Do you think my ACT score can “make up” for my GPA? Or am I pretty much screwed if I’m applying to Top-40s?
They are both important - while SAT/ACT represent how well you perform under a stressed environment (intelligence & aptitude), GPA represents resilience over a long period of time.
IMHO, GPA is more important, but they both have to support each other. As someone once said, you are as strong as your weakest point.
Does your GPA reflect an upward trend? Many schools are forgiving of a weak freshman year, knowing that some kids take a bit of time to mature and adjust. If, on the other hand, your GPA is trending downward, it’s going to be a hard sell that you are gaining in maturity and focus which is what schools want/expect to see. Likewise, if your low grades are just in one subject consistently, it’s easy to overlook, say an inability to get through Spanish with anything but a C. Some schools are okay with ‘angularity.’ If your grades are just consistently As and Bs, again, it’s harder for them to justify taking you over someone who is reliably getting As, even with slightly lower test scores.
Frankly, what’s the fixation on a top 40 any way? There are lots of great schools that would probably be excellent fits outside of that group.
Look up the Common Data Set, section C7, for your schools. It will tell you what gets higher weight in admission. Some schools do weigh scores more, most schools come down on the side of GPA.
Do look up the CDS. Nevertheless, GPA indicates long term cumulative effort while test score can be a result of short term focused hard work.