<p>By stellar I mean 2300+ in reasoning and around 750 in the subject tests and by mediocre I mean 70% or 80% in school.</p>
<p>If you’re aiming for elite colleges, no.</p>
<p>If you have test scores in that range and grades in that range, you need to run, not walk, to your guidance counselor’s office and sit in front of his/her desk until you have an appointment with the school psychologist. You need formal screening for ADD. Your profile is practically a diagnosis of “inattentive-type” ADD. You need to start working now on developing effective strategies for studying so that you are able to perform at your proper level once you are in college.</p>
<p>I would say they can definitely “offset” mediocre grades, but don’t confuse that with “eliminate.” There are schools out there that will see the potential of a student and be delighted to help develop that person into an adult. Check out Colleges that Change Lives and similar schools. Also, be prepared to talk to the admissions folks about why your grades are mediocre. Perhaps there were personal distractions or poor advice on course selection. Many “gifted” kids are underachievers for various reasons. Also, an upward trend may show increased maturity.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Haha, dude, this isn’t my profile. Ironically enough, I scored ony a 2050 on the SAT and my school percentage last year was 92%. I made this thread out of curiosity; or more precisely, consider my options in the case that my profile would end up like this.</p>
<p>I’m kinda like this 3.55 UW(4.35 W tho), 2240 SAT, 800 on both subject tests. I’m not ADD tho</p>
<p>It generally gives the impression that you are “a slacker” or have some other issue that isn’t coming across in the application (I can see why ADD was suggested, and may throw in “smoker” as well ;)). Now if it’s a 2300 on the SAT and closer to a 3.5 gpa, that usually won’t be a sure deal breaker for some top tier schools. It’s not impossible to get in with a B+/A-avg. But a 70% avg. is out of the running imho.</p>
<p>btw, am being hypothetical, not calling you a smoker! Just clarifying.</p>
<p>Happymomof1…Do you have experience with a child with ADD?</p>
<p>depends on the college. Colleges that want to move up the rankings will ‘pay’ for high test scores. USC is one example.</p>
<p>If there is steady improvement over the years then it shouldn’t be a problem. But if I were an adcom, I would think ‘underachiver, smart, but somewhat lazy, is he motivated enough for college?’</p>
<p>I was in a similiar situation as a sophmore, and my Dad got me a summer job as a roofer to motivate me. He said ‘if you don’t want college, you can join my crew laying shingles in 100 degree weather for the next 10 years’…it was all the motivation I needed.</p>
<p>nvamom -</p>
<p>No more than any other mom and classroom volunteer. However, there are parents who are truly expert who have contributed to threads on that topic in the Parents Forum and in the Learning Differences Forum.</p>
<p>For most students, standardized test scores are reasonably predictable based on their classroom grades. This means that any discrepancy between the test scores and grades should cause the parents and the school to take note.</p>
<p>The combination of high test scores (possibly due to a student’s ability to hyperconcentrate on an activity that is intellectually challenging) with relatively lower classroom grades (possibly due to a student’s inability to stay organized and their distractibility in the middle of not-particularly compelling tasks) can be an indication of undiagnosed ADD - in particular the “inattentive” type.</p>
<p>The combination of high classroom grades (especially when these result from dogged attention to homework and over-study of the subject matter) with relatively lower test scores (especially when the student consistently runs out of time to complete the exam or consistently has difficulty keeping track of the lines of bubbles on the answer sheet) can be an indication of undiagnosed processing difficulties and dyslexia.</p>
<p>Of course other factors can result in these kinds of discrepancies. As Smitty900 has mentioned above, some students aren’t particularly motivated about their classwork and so their grades won’t be as good they could be. Also, students who have anxious tendencies can freeze in an exam situation with the result that their test scores aren’t as good as they could be.</p>
<p>The important thing is to learn to live with the brain that you have. If you suspect that you have (or your child or student has) an undiagnosed learning difference, then you should speak up. The sooner students learn effective means of compensating for their learning differences, the sooner those students can begin to perform to the best of their own abilities.</p>
<p>They can definitely make you look better, and thus reduce the damage. However, your transcript is generally the most important part of your application from an academic perspective, so high test scores aren’t going to make those grades “go away” in the eyes of admissions.</p>
<p>what about high test scores, spectacular ecs (probably some of the best in the nation), and a really low gpa and rank o___O</p>
<p>high test scores on sat 2s and the sats… o_o; and possibly the ap tests</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>They can make the GPA and rank less damaging, but it depends on how low we’re talking. If the GPA and rank are low enough that the school doesn’t consider you academically qualified, the ECs won’t matter <em>at all.</em></p>
<p>As and Bs in a competitive public school? honors and ap classes ._.; </p>
<p>and where a 2200 is only the top 15% in the school (but the school average is still a 1700 so that probably doesn’t help)</p>
<p>I had a 3.0 GPA and a 34 ACT (hope I’m not ADD!), and I applied to a bunch of competitive colleges. If you want, I could tell you where I got in when I get my decisions back in a couple weeks.</p>