<p>Two seniors at my school got into Duke. Their SATs were barely 2000. One had slightly above average grades and the other got all As for the most part. They both had fantastics ECs though... Should I just focus on ECs instead of studying too much for the SATs? I got a 2300 psat but i probably could improve it if tried...</p>
<p>High SAT scores will help, but only up to a certain point… if you end up taking the SAT and getting a 2300 or higher, you’ll probably be better served by devoting your time to ECs rather than taking the SAT again. However, it sounds like you haven’t taken the SAT yet, so you should definitely keep studying to some extent until you take it.</p>
<p>The SAT help with placement. If your scores place you in the highest of the classes and as long as the scores are a good amount above the requirement, then you should not worry about retaking. Admissions does not rank a 2400 individual above a 2300 individual. The real test is whether you choose to retake or do something profound with your time. Don’t just care about the grades during senior year and forget your High school activities (assuming it is your last year).</p>
<p>Let’s be real: the SAT matters. A 2400 > 2300 just as a 2300 > 2200, etc etc. </p>
<p>Lots of people say that once you get “in the range”, you’re good to go. That’s not necessarily the case. A higher score will always be better. Now, is a higher score worth the effort? Maybe not, but a higher score will always be beneficial. In fact, Duke’s scoring system only assigns 5s (the max) to the test section if you get high 700s in all 3 sections (meaning like 2300+).</p>
<p>^What would a 34 ACT be? A 4 or 5?</p>
<p>I don’t know, the article only mentioned what SATs would be a 5.</p>
<p>^Do you think you could provide a link to the article?</p>
<p>Yeah, Duke ( MIT also used to stick to numerical system exclusively) and several schools use numerical systems. I don’t like it personally because that defeats the purpose of holistic judging process, but that’s how it works.</p>
<p>I’d rather have a numerical system where I know what my chances are rather than a holistic process where we can’t really know anything for sure.</p>
<p>As a general rule, it is advantageous to have SAT’s that fall in the middle (or above) of the mid-50% for the school. Beyond that, your grades (taking into consideration the difficulty of your courses), EC’s, essays/letters of recommendation are in aggregate the most important factors. Bear in mind that schools do care about their SAT medians for rankings, etc., but SAT’s alone will never dominate the decision process.</p>
<p>Here’s the article:
[Application</a> increase overwhelms review system | The Chronicle](<a href=“http://dukechronicle.com/article/application-increase-overwhelms-review-system]Application”>http://dukechronicle.com/article/application-increase-overwhelms-review-system)</p>
<p>The process is still holistic, but the numbers provide a quick glimpse- like a basic summary of the applicant.</p>