<p>Deferred at Stanford SCEA.
General Studies Program at NYU.
Winter Semester at UC San Diego.
Waitlisted at Boston College.</p>
<p>... and more to come, I'm guessing. I'm starting to understand just how important SAT scores are.</p>
<p>what are your stats?</p>
<p>grades count more than sats..a lot more looking at my decisions at this point</p>
<p>SAT/ACT carries a lot more weight than your GPA. For all the school knows you could go to a school where it is very easy to get a 4 point, a high SAT/ACT verifies your high GPA.</p>
<p>At top schools you need top GPAs and SATs. Period. Nothing weird.</p>
<p>bjs1188: "grades count more than sats..a lot more looking at my decisions at this point"</p>
<p>Not really...once you're above a certain hurdle for grades, it's all about the SATs. And, once you're above a certain range for SAT (determined by your race and other factors such as athletics or legacy) then your ECs are looked at.</p>
<p>SAT/ACT are VERY important since the college publish these scores and are ranked partly based off these.</p>
<p>i got a 1400/1600 on the SATs, 740 math 660 verbal, and i've been declined at schools with 1150 sat averages.</p>
<p>Probably tufts syndrome bjs</p>
<p>No, once you're above a certain hurdle for SATs, it's all about grades. At least for top colleges. Think about how many people get into top colleges with ~2100 SATs...now think about how many people get into top colleges with ~3.6 GPA. HMM.</p>
<p>Or maybe colleges are just weird.</p>
<p>purest: what is "tufts syndrome"?? (i'm interested in tufts, so it confused me)</p>
<p>Some schools really want you to show interest in them, especially if your scores are higher than their 25-75%. So far, my son was accepted with good merit aid at one school, accepted with no decision on merit yet on another, rejected on a reach, likely accepted at safety with full-ride, & waiting on 4 more schools.
Formulating a careful college list & strategy is important. "Loving your safety" is really key. For my son, his standardized test scores are excellent (NMF) much better than his rank or GPA--I believe it has helped show how rigorous & competitive his school is & may help him get more merit offers. Grades & rankings are really tough to compare among schools, which is why standardized tests give schools an "anchoring point" if you will.</p>
<p>Tufts syndrome is basically when a school rejects you because they are sure you are choosing them as your safety and have no intention of actually enrolling there - even (well, when) your scores are much higher than the application average.</p>
<p>My S has been accepted at schools with lower average test scores, often with good merit money. Depends on the school--each has its own policy.</p>