<p>How do mediocre grades look to top colleges if you have really outstanding scores?</p>
<p>Say you have Bs and Cs in </p>
<p>AP Chem
AP Physics
PreCalculus
AP English</p>
<p>But when you take the AP Exam you get 5s in everything. When you take the SAT Subject tests, it looks something like this:</p>
<p>Chem- 780
Physics- 780
PreCal- 780
Lit- 780</p>
<p>What does this say about you? And are you out or in or in the middle or what?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>precal?</p>
<p>it makes you look lazy</p>
<p>It pretty much looks like you're a smart kid with no motivation to do any of the work required of you.</p>
<p>In comparison to all the smart kids that the top colleges are going to admit that <em>do</em> have motivation to work, who's gonna end up doing better? Who will the top universities admit, given the choice? Talent only gets you so far in life... =</p>
<p>i think it looks better to have good scores and average grades. of course it'd be better to have both, but some schools may be a lot harder in terms of grading. teachers aren't always comparable between schools, even if they're teaching the same course. -- a national test everyone takes.</p>
<p>I'd say it shows that your school is competitive and grades hard. Don't worry about it.</p>
<p>"i think it looks better to have good scores and average grades. of course it'd be better to have both, but some schools may be a lot harder in terms of grading. teachers aren't always comparable between schools, even if they're teaching the same course. -- a national test everyone takes."</p>
<p>Unfortunately, though, there are a number of prestigious state universities who never take the time to take this into account......GPA is everything, even with high standardized test scores.....</p>
<p>Your out of the running for almost all of the ivies if your grades are Bs and Cs. Even if you are an amazing athlete, the ivies will look elsewhere if your grades are too low. If they're reasonable like low As, then it is still fine. An All-American at my school got into Yale, but it was because he still had mid to high 90s. If he had lower grades, I doubt even the ivies would care because they still need to maintaina reputation of academic excellence. While there are exceptions to every case, be rest assure that Bs and Cs will definitely hinder your chances at competitive schools REGARDLESS OF PERFECT SAT AND SATIIs.</p>
<p>The reason why they are top colleges is because they accept the best. That means outstanding grades and scores.</p>
<p>There are people who are really great test takers. </p>
<p>However, your grades reflect the concept of the best predictor of future behavior is relevant past behavior. So having great test scores and mediocre grades (especially for a sustained period of time) does not help get you admitted to a highly selective college.</p>
<p>i would say it rules out almost any super-competitive school.</p>
<p>B's are passable; C's are inexcusable in most cases.</p>