<p>How significant is the difference between Important and Very Important on the Common Data Set? Say, for example one school lists essays as important and another very important. Someone applies with a low-ish GPA and standardized testing scores, but writes outstanding essays. Will the school that lists application essay as very important be more likely to admit them over the school that lists them as just "important"? Will the school that just have essays as "important" consider more heavily outstanding essays?</p>
<p>A lot of the times, the information on the common data set aren’t an accurate representative regarding what the college really looks for in admissions. For example, take UCLA. In its common data set, it says that test scores, GPA, essays, and course rigor are all “Very important.” However, it’s common knowledge that UCLA values GPA above anything else. </p>
<p>Take everything in that section of the CDS with a grain of salt, because something that’s considered “very important” for one school could be just “considered” for another.</p>
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This is interesting. How would you know what UCLA values for entrance? I would think an officially published document from the Provost’s office is pretty accurate…</p>
<p>UCLA values GPA for in-state, not sure for OOS. I think it values money for OOS. :D</p>
<p>I don’t think you can compare very important and important between schools. It’s probably more useful to see the order individual schools rank various aspects of the application. In other words, one school ranks gpa as being more important than the essay but another ranks the essay higher than the gpa. I just don’t think you can say “important” means the same thing from school to school.</p>
<p>below is a link to a chart showing the “weight” given by the most competitive colleges to 7 different admissions factors beyond GPA and SAT. It dates from a few years ago, but I doubt that these admissions factors have changed much at any one college since this survey was done. </p>
<p>"On what basis do admissions committees anoint the chosen? The question has preoccupied generations of applicants. “There is no magic formula,” says Gila Reinstein, a Yale spokeswoman. “It’s just not an exact thing.” Nonetheless, the College Board’s annual survey of colleges and universities does ask them to rank admissions criteria. No surprise: high school academic record is consistently rated “very important,” as are standardized test scores (Harvard contends they’re only “important”). But what about all that other stuff? Institutions below admit the country’s best students: 25 percent of their freshman classes, fall 2004, scored 700 or more on the math or verbal SAT and placed in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes. But academics alone won’t get you in. Here’s what else matters. </p>
<p>[The</a> New York Times > Education > Image > Admissions Sine Qua Non](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/08/education/edlife/data.1.graphic.html]The”>The New York Times > Education > Image > Admissions Sine Qua Non)</p>