<p>With all the hype lately and many schools making themselves "SAT optional", are SATs still seen as very important at MOST colleges? One of the highest deciding factors? For example - two students with somewhat close GPAs, 3.5 and 3.7, but the 3.5 has an SAT of 2100 while the 3.7'er has a 1950 or something, would the adcoms choose the higher SAT, or GPA? (assuming all other credentials were similar) </p>
<p>This isn't another topic weighing GPA vs. SAT... I KNOW in many, many, many cases (if not all), GPA > SAT scores. However, I just wanted to reconfirm that SAT still plays a huge role in college admissions, correct? </p>
<p>What else are SAT scores good for other than admissions? Do any schools base merit aid/scholarships off merely your SAT scores?</p>
<p>no matter how much u hate the SAT, the only factor more important that it is GPA. yes, essays can count a lot, but GPA and SAT are always first.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. SAT scores play a much larger part in large state schools and also in some less competitive private schools. In many of the really competitive schools, however, so many students with good test scores apply that SAT scores play only a small role.</p>
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Do any schools base merit aid/scholarships off merely your SAT scores?
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I believe that some state schools do. But generally, so many students would be applying for these scholarships that to base it simply off of SAT scores would cost a lot of money! So don't expect your SAT scores alone to do a whole lot for you.</p>
<p>Some schools do have SAT cutoffs for merit scholarships. They are not the sole criterion for awarding the scholarships, but the scores are necessary for eligibility.</p>
<p>SATs aren't everything, but for most schools they are still pretty important. Look at it this way -- you know what your grades are, but you really don't know where you stand, which tier of colleges you can realistically shoot for, until you have both your grades and test scores in hand.</p>
<p>If you have schools that you're particularly interested in, you can look at their Common Data Set and find out how they themselves rate the importance of standardized test scores in the admissions process on a scale running from very important to not considered.</p>
<p>(Some SAT-optional colleges will still rate standardized test scores as important.) To augment Chedva's observation, even colleges that are SAT-optional for admissions usually require test scores, and consider them heavily, in awarding merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Some schools like Villanova obviously weigh the SATs pretty heavily, at least for the EA round. I have a pretty good SAT score but my GPA is so-so, but people from my school that applied who had so-so SAT scores and good GPAs were deferred, while I was accepted.</p>
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With all the hype lately and many schools making themselves "SAT optional", are SATs still seen as very important at MOST colleges? One of the highest deciding factors?
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Yes, definitely. Check out section C7 of the Common Data Sets to see which factors are "very important," "important," "considered," or "not considered." Many (perhaps most) public colleges use GPA and SAT scores almost exclusively when making admissions decisions.</p>
<p>Well, yea. Think about it. The only scores they're using are those of the students who CHOOSE to send them. Of course they will be artificially inflated.</p>
<p>glucose101, it's not ironic at all. It's simple statistics. The averages reported are only for those students who sent SAT scores. If the school is SAT optional, then the only students who sent the scores are those who thought the scores would help them - i.e., the high scorers. Why would someone with a low score send them? Therefore, the bottom part of the SAT "bell curve" falls out, so the median scores move higher, and so do the averages.</p>