<p>Not really, obviously, but does it seem possible that having a 28-30 ACT or whatever instead of a 35 can make you seem more human, less all-I-do-is-study type? Don't schools want people who work super hard in school and show they can excel even if they don't cram their brains out for standardized tests..even HYPS don't want all uber smart kids with no personality...do "poor" test scores really doom a person, or can it make them stand out for being more than just a statistic and emphasize their ec's, essays, etc. more?</p>
<p>In my opinion, HYPS and the like have more than enough applicants. They can pick and choose to find the ones that generally have high grades/test scores AND EC's/essays/etc. It's not as much a question of or. I think that test scores won't get you in, but they can keep you out.</p>
<p>That's not to say that people w/ lower test scores don't have a chance or shouldn't try or anything of that sort.</p>
<p>Heck, I have a 29 and am applying to some top schools. That's because I believe that test scores aren't nearly everything. I'm just hoping that's what colleges think as well.</p>
<p>There's another way to show you're not the "all-I-do-is-study" type of person. It's called doing extracurricular activities. Joining clubs, playing sports, volunteering, tutoring, etc. all outside of the classroom, WHILE maintaining a high GPA is extremely impressive and will, in most cases, get one into a very good university. plus, isn't a lower gpa more likely to show that you spend more time on other things besides school?</p>
<p>A lot of people who do well on standardized tests are not simply "all-I-do-is-study" types.
Some people I know who did really well on these sorts of tests have the ambition of a mayfly and are addicted to drugs.
They would rather accept those with high test scores AND those with a lot of EC's.
However, high grades and interesting extracurriculars can make up for a 'low' test score for most of the top colleges. (Except for Caltech)</p>
<p>My friend who is a pot-head made a 35 one the ACTs and he never studied, but his GPA and rank dropped a lot because of it.</p>
<p>Coffee -- HYPS accept only 1 in 10 applicants. don't you think that the 10% who are accepted have high scores, high gpa, high leadership and high involvement <em>and</em> the IT factor? Why would they reject a person with high everything for a person with high most things?</p>
<p>Very human, well balanced kids get high scores too. Those are the kids top colleges are looking for.</p>