<p>I know you are lurking around on this board, and I know that you are reading this.</p>
<p>Do u know how painful college applications are these days?</p>
<p>Theres so much injustice in the college admission process: the Asian and Indian disadvantage. The fact that Hispanics and Blacks get more of an advantage than the Indians, Asians, and Whites. These are things that we cannot help. We were born this way, and I wish you would take skin color and race more lightly.</p>
<p>Do you feel that the SATs are losing their value? I feel that way. I know of some kids who can spend $2,000 and increase their SAT scores by 300. My cousins can't because they're not rich. Is this fair? Do the SATs actually measure anything? I've seen kids do amazing things, conquer their schools academically, and enamor their peers with amazing personalities. I feel bad for any top school who rejects these future leaders because of their SAT scores. That's one less amazing applicant that they are missing out on for one simple reason: a number on a piece of paper --- a number which means nothing other than how prepared they were for a 4-hour test. How can one 4-hour test prove anything? I do not argue this because I scored low. I scored really darn well. But my cousins, my girlfriend, my friends, who are some of the most amazing people in the world... score low.</p>
<p>I say this in the kindest way possible, and I only say this not to criticize you admission officers, but merely to open your eyes to the torture and injustice that the college application process puts us through.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading this, Officers.</p>
<p>Would anyone like to add anything else that you would like the Officers to read?</p>
<p>[From personal experience] There really is very little difference between people who score a 2100+ and people who score a 2300+ on the SAT. I have met a few people who scored near 2400, but they do not strike me as being that much more intelligent. </p>
<p>In fact, the person who I met [who has a score near a 2400] consistently did worse on [chemistry] and [math] exams than the person who didn't score AS high on the SAT, and these were difficult college courses. The person with the higher SAT score also got 750+ on the math and chemistry SAT II's, while the other person got only around a 690-700 on them. I have seen this in high schools as well. Some people just are not good at taking Collegeboard tests. I do not see how the SAT I/II really measures much once you get to a certain level. Just thought that that fact should be pointed out. There really should be less of a focus on small 30-40 point differences and more on what truly matters.</p>
<p>
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Do u know how painful college applications are these days?
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Yes. We sense the panic when we visit your schools, hold evening programs, talk to you by phone/email/IM, read this message board and meet you during your campus visits.</p>
<p>We do this job because we love our students and we truly want to help them in the process. We don't want to make this process harder.
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Do you feel that the SATs are losing their value?
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I don't hide the fact that I find it very hard to put much weight on the SAT when there have been problems with it in the last several years. I find that most of my colleagues are very realistic about standardized tests. They're important because they're standardized (in a time when every school has its own grading system and GPA formula, that's helpful), but they don't trump your transcripts, which show four years of work (instead of four hours).</p>
<p>Has any admission officer told you that the SATs are more important than your curriculum and grades? I suspect that you get this message from Kaplan and Princeton Review or people who applied to college in the days when the tests were entrance exams.</p>
<p>When we're reviewing applications, certain things will make us jump up and run down the hall to brag to our colleagues. What do you think does that? SATs? Never. I have never gone into someone else's office and said "You won't believe this critical reasoning score! It's amazing!" Plenty of essays have sent me down the hall and a few recommendations. </p>
<p>By the way, when you get back to school and the admission officers start visiting, go see them. You'll see that we aren't old fuddy-duddy types who don't remember what it was like to apply to college. There are always rookies on admission staffs who are recent grads...they remember this process.</p>