<p>College admissions officers can talk about your "softs" and extracurriculars until they're blue in the face, but as someone who has gone through both undergrad and post-grad admissions, let me tell you: IF YOU HAVE THE NUMBERS YOU GET IN. Period.</p>
<p>*If you want to have a reasonable chance of getting in to your college of choice, make sure your SAT and GPA numbers are at or above the median scores.</p>
<p>*If you want to have a reasonable chance of getting a scholarship and are not eligible for affirmative action, make sure your SAT and GPA numbers are at or above the 75 percentiles.</p>
<p>When it comes to your essay and activities, I hope you've written a book or tutored children in Africa; or even better, tutored children in Africa and then wrote a book about the experience. However, most of you worked at the mall and "volunteered" because your school/parents forced you to. </p>
<p>Therefore, your essay should focus less on your high school achievements and more about impressing admissions officers with your writing style and the ability to answer their questions in a concise and focused manner. </p>
<p>35 on the ACT >>>> the entirety of the human soul</p>
<p>I cannot express how brutally serious I am about this.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, your softs can be a tipping point, but if you don’t have the numbers in the first place you won’t even get there. This is particularly true for graduate school.</p>
<p>Standardized exams are also more important than GPA, thanks to grade inflation at many schools. How many of you have a 4.62 GPA? Well the GPAs at some high schools only go up to 4.0, so the only realistic way they can measure you against others is through your SAT/ACT score.</p>
<p>I think what you mean to say is that if you don’t have the numbers, you don’t get in. That I agree with. But many with the numbers don’t get in too. There’s simply not enought space for all of them. </p>
<p>And for the top schools, it’s not the median numbers, it’s 75th percentile stats that start making schools look possible for the unhooked from well represented groups and places.</p>
<p>The soft factors are what gets you in or doesn’t once you have the numbers.</p>
<p>Schools within the top 10/top 20 range screen students in a manner similar to the way an employer would when looking at applicants. Numbers are expected to be phenomenal. What the numbers do is get the adcoms to look at your EC’s, in the same way that your degrees will net you that holy grail of job hunting; the interview. </p>
<p>Numbers are more important in admissions at large public schools not at the top, but even then I’m unwilling to say that they account for 90% of the decision.</p>
<p>I agree with Unholy Sigma, your numbers will only get your foot in the door. At top schools, the majority of the applicants are going to have incredible numbers, so what you need is something else that sets you apart, which is where essays and ECs come in. </p>
<p>Standardized test scores might be more important than GPA, but they are NOT more important than your grades themselves. </p>
<p>Sure, the actual number your high school assigns to your transcript has absolutely no meaning to colleges, but a compilation of your rank, grades, and course load is THE most important factor in admissions. period</p>
<p>According to our Naviance, yes, there are some trends with numbers, however there are ALWAYS (truly, I think every single school) some kids who DO get in without the highest numbers, and some kids who DON’T get in even with the highest numbers. I’ve not yet seen a college in our system that has many applications from our school (which is a top tier public h.s. in the gold-level of USWNR) that is totally clear cut according to numbers.</p>
<p>(And by numbers I mean GPA and SAT)</p>
<p>It makes it a bit difficult to choose reach, safety, match - when some kids with top scores get rejected from a lower level school (probably their safety) and some kids with lower scores get in to better schools (probably their reach.) – I’m sure the top kids also get into some great schools, so it’s not like they’re left with nothing, but some amazing scores and GPA combinations come up short at some pretty average universities. Not sure why.</p>
And it can be expressed with joining a random club or volunteering for a couple hours? I am aware that some people’s extracurriculars go far beyond this, and for those people I disagree with the OP. Doing things that actually make a major difference or show some unique ability does stand out. Joining NHS or Model UN as a resume padder doesn’t.
Think about it from their point of view. Statistically speaking, numbers DO matter. While there certainly are some people with 2.8 GPAs who have other amazing traits that would make them a valuable addition to any college, they are the exception and not the rule. A higher percentage of 4.0 students are serious about their academics than 2.8 students. I would not expect a college to take the risk of admitting someone just on the off chance that they might be the exception.</p>
<p>With that said, I think that a truly amazing extracurricular or passion can make up for mediocre numbers. It just has to be really, really good - 4 years of tennis won’t cut it.</p>
<p>I agree with all the people who said that numbers get your foot in the door but don’t necessarily guarantee you admission. How many times has Harvard, for example, boasted about rejecting perfect 2400s or vals? …pretty damn often.</p>