I have seen a couple of articles about this and I saw a video where 4 kids with perfect sat score all got deferred from their choice college early admission. I have heard that if you have to many AP classes and all perfect test score, colleges tend to stay away from you. So that bring me to the question, does having a perfect SAT score hurt you?
I don’t think so. I think it’s that people with 2400s/1600s/36s might tend to be a bit more dedicated to their academics than their extracurricular pursuits. Since admission to a top tier school is based on presenting yourself as an interesting and valuable contribution to the school, the academics of the 2400s kids often fail to set them apart from similarly qualified candidates who have shown intellectual interest and energy beyond the classroom.
So maybe it’s just correlation does not equal causation here.
@neoking thanks for commenting.
Also to anyone who says that I spelled things wrong in the post, I know I forgot to edit it.
What hurts any applicant is if they’re a zero personality robot and in their personal statements, clearly portray that. 1600 or 1300. Elite colleges want people who will be engaging members of their community. You hear about the 1600s who get deferred/rejected. You don’t hear about the legions of other lame essay writers or those with lukewarm rec letters who say the applicant doesn’t play nice in the sandbox that never make it past the first cut either.
You’re looking at this the wrong way. It’s not the score – it’s the lack of other attractive characteristics.
There is nothing like a golden SAT/AP score or a minimum-required GPA because a lot of factors are taken into account in process of evaluation. However, by no means having the higher SAT/ACT/AP score – or being better than one’s “competitors” – worsens the chance. What most likely contributed to their rejections were not the numbers but non-academics like, as T26E4 said, unlively, emotionless essays, poor extracurricular activity background, etc.
It is very commonly to see applicants with the perfect 4.0 UW GPA and perfect 1600 SAT scores get rejected.
it doesn’t hurt chances at all… those kids must’ve had nothing to show but their scores.
It won’t hurt your chances nor will it assure admission to a top tier college. Standardized tests are just one part of a holistic review process.
No, not at all. It’s not much different from a 1550 or similar, of course, but it certainly isn’t a negative.
This is like asking: “Does a perfect GPA hurt your chances?”
Of course not.
Right now you have a 0.
That would hurt your chances.
A 1600 would not.
If you’re applying to some of the top schools mentioned in prior posts, you’ve got to know better than this.
How did those articles and video explain this? And were they reputable sources? Best is to read what he colleges tell you they like to see.
One of my kids had a 2380 SAT and 800s on two subject tests. She had excellent admissions results, and always claims that the “smudge” of those last 20 points helped her burnish the impression of being intellectually oriented vs a perfectionist grubbing for points. 
I doubt the admissions boost was true, though. (although it is a true assessment of her actual focus)
I’ve seen it here several times. The kid who was aiming for U Mich ends up with an unexpected crazy board score and now they fancy themselves Ivy material. So now they are applying to a bunch of 5% schools and of course it’s not going to turn out well, especially if their LORs are a little tepid.
@snarlatron me too. Kids get a 34-36 on ACT and all of a sudden are applying to H. It’s not that simple.
If the candidate got the perfect SAT score on the first or second try, then, no, a perfect score should not hurt the applicant’s chances. If the candidate kept taking the test over and over again until they got a perfect score, then, yes, that behavior would hurt his/her chances.
And meanwhile, they don’t understand what does matter. They have tunnel vision and want an admit at schools that want kids who can see the larger picture, have been seeing it and working in more ways than scores. Big difference.
I know two kids with 36s who did not get into Northwestern. They had plenty of extracurriculars. The guidance counselors really think it’s because they did not visit or show interest otherwise and NU thought they would go elsewhere - protecting their yield. I think it’s probably important for some schools to show them the love, even with a perfect score.