Does anyone get accepted with high gpa but low act/sat?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I'm interested in Cornell but I just don't want my test scores to hold me back..I have a 5.6 W/4.91 UW (3.92 on 4.0 scale) and 29 ACT, still waiting on sat score but I'm hoping for 2000-2200 since I liked sat better.</p>

<p>I feel like everyone on this site has near perfect test scores but is it unrealistic to think I could get in? Ticks me off how smart kids that don't try in school get high test scores and probably have better chances at some of theses schools even though gpa should be worth more..</p>

2

<p>Yea, a high GPA is something that can balance out low test scores. They just can’t be too low.</p>

3

<p>Honestly, the vast majority of Cornell applicant will have very high GPA’s and stellar SAT/ACT scores.</p>

4

<p>My GPA was 97 unweighted and 110 weighted (97 converts to a 4.0). My SAT was 1920 and my ACT was a 30. The standardized test scores freaked me out during the application process, but I applied ED and was accepted.</p>

5

<p>I’m generally of the opinion that SAT/ACT score doesn’t matter too much (unless they’re too low). SAT/ACT score is poorly correlated with college performance. The real reason why most people with high GPAs also have high SATs is that as you’d expect, GPA and SAT are generally highly correlated with each other. But for those instances where the SAT is weaker relative to what you’d expect from a GPA, that doesn’t matter as much; just don’t bomb the test.</p>

<p>PS. I remember looking at this analysis in my econometrics class at Cornell.</p>

6

<p>Somewhat dependent on the college within Cornell. Colleges of Human Ecology & Ag Life Sciences appear to be more forgiving of Test scores than Colleges of Engineering & Arts & Science.</p>

7

<p>From the Cornell common data set, middle 50 percent
SAT Critical Reading 640 740
SAT Math 670 780
ACT Composite 30 33</p>

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000530.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000530.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
page 7</p>

<p>So 25 percent of students accepted at Cornell had an ACT composite under 30 and/or SAT Critical Reading less than 640 and Math under 670.</p>

8

<p>SupremeStudent, I faced this problem too for a while: I had a 29 until September when I was applying and I finally got a 33 Composite on my final ACT. I had a 3.98/4.0 GPA similar to yours. I was accepted RD to Cornell and at the Admitted Students day my host, who worked in admissions, told me that test scores matter-generally-much less than applicants think they do. So my advice to you is to try to raise it a couple points but don’t stress anymore after that. I think that a high GPA is better than a high test score anyway. But take that advice with a grain of salt, I’m only a college freshmen.</p>

9

<p>Thanks guys, yeah I’ve come to conclusion you should try to get the highest scores you can but after that just focus on the things that matter more like essays and ECs.</p>