<p>I’m just saying that I think people realize that a 100 point difference might be only three questions or so. Or the extremely subjective weighting of the SAT writing section essay. (Yes, I 'm a bit bitter about this myself, but you can google around for some pretty badly written essays that have scored 12s because they perfectly emulate the kind of formulaic writing that the graders are looking for)</p>
<p>I really think that Harvard is looking less for applicants who academically stand out as opposed to those who personally stand out. I don’t think there’s much of a difference between a 2100 and a 2200 or a 2200 and a 2300. Yes, there’s a difference, but I personally feel that they take the academic factors into account so that they’ll know you can take the course rigor. Many white/asian applicants are accepted with scores around 2100/2050 or so. Not quite as many, true, but they are accepted. Yes, I’m a bit biased about this, but Yale outright says that they care more about the transcript than test scores. Other schools should believe the same. It’s all about the following principle: the best way to judge future performance is past performance. If you’ve got someone in there with a GPA below 3.75 and a 2300+ SAT score, it might say that that person doesn’t work quite as hard as someone with a 2200+ SAT score and a 4.0 GPA, without taking into account grade inflation, etc. It’s only a few questions. </p>
<p>And yes, I’m a bit biased, and you can see my scores on my chance threads - but I really don’t think they’ll care between a 34 and a 35. A 33 and a 35 and a 32 and a 34, there’s a little difference. But after a while, people need to realize that a less than 40 point difference on the SAT or one point on the ACT really doesn’t matter much at all. </p>
<p>After they get a sense of your academics, they’ll want to know a few things: depth of EC involvement, essays (perhaps the most important), and teacher recommendations. These, I will argue, are much more important as a distinguishing factor in admissions, than a point on the ACT or a 30 point margin on the SAT.</p>