<p>If someone had a low unweighted GPA (3.5-3.7) with a high SAT score (let's say 2150), and another person had an almost perfect unweighted GPA (3.9-4.0) with a lower SAT score (let's say 2000) and they both applied to the same competitive school, which person would have more of an edge purely in terms of academic merit? I know ECs, grade trends, recommendations, etc are also important, but if it were purely based on those stats, who would have the advantage?</p>
<p>Most schools weight GPA more than scores, but that assumes the same rigor for the two options.</p>
<p>yeah, i forgot to add that if they had the same exact classes and same rigor as well. If everything was the same except for GPA and SAT scores, I’m curious as to know what people think gives the better edge.</p>
<p>i am guessing, but GPA would show a sustained effort and hence will bear more weight. SAT is just a one day deal. What if the person was sick on the test day etc. So, i would guess it would be GPA as it is over 4 years</p>
<p>Admin folks at several LACs told us that the academic record carries significantly more weight than the test scores (SAT or ACT). One school noted the academic record counted for roughly half the weight of the decision, the SAT for a quarter and recommendations, ECs and essays for the remaining quarter. Don’t know if that’s typical but what it says is that your academic record is critical.</p>
<p>Depends on the numbers. In your example, the student with higher GPA is definitely in a better spot, but if we were talking about a 4.0 student with a 1500 SAT vs. a 3.0 student with a 2400, it would probably be reversed, since they would (rightly or not) probably assume the 4.0 came from a grade-inflated school. Also just because the SAT effectively caps out a lot higher than GPA. There are more 4.0s than there are 2400s</p>
<p>Though you need to have both near max for the kind of top schools CC loves to talk about.</p>
<p>Check Item C7 of the Common Data Set for the schools you are interested in.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/76444-links-common-data-sets-posted-colleges-29.html#post13334495[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/76444-links-common-data-sets-posted-colleges-29.html#post13334495</a></p>
<p>The GPA is more important. Colleges are interested in how you will perform academically in their classes, not how you might perform on a one-day multiple-choice test that is minimally predictive of success in college.</p>
<p>Id argue that GPA without class rank is useless… a valedictorian with a 3.0 is just as well off as a valedictorian with a 4.0.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App</p>
<p>^ Some schools disagree with you like UNLV, UW and WVU.</p>