<p>@Orhan Pamuk: You know of many people who got into MIT? How many? 1, 2 or 10. It doesn't matter. As long as a sizeable percentage of MITs class didn't get in with SAT scores of less than 2000. The comparison doesn't make sense.</p>
<p>I used the term near perfect. </p>
<p>Anyway, the biggest mistake people generally make is that of using isolated cases and then making them out to signify the general trend. Sure, colleges aren't specifically looking for people with perfect scores but if you take a look at the middle 50% of their admitted class you'll see where the general trend lies.</p>
<p>Everybody hasn't won an International Olympiad, everybody hasn't done some sort of research in high school. For these people SAT scores might not mean so much. For the rest, they do have weight.</p>
<p>If the scores weren't all that important, why are colleges still using them? Why are companies like Princeton Review, Kaplan, Barrons, ETS making so much money?</p>
<p>The SATs aren't everything. But they are something.</p>