While I understand that SAT and GPA are both very important. Do very competitive colleges like Harvard and Yale give more weight to SAT or course load and GPA? If all other things are equal who gets the nod a kid with a 2300 and a 3.8/4.3 with 6-8 AP classes or a kid with a 2200 and a 4.0/4.7 with 16-18 AP classes?
For a school like Harvard you’d need top notch GPA with high level classes, outstanding ACT/SAT , wonderful recommendations, a great essay, and strong ECs…and even then admission isn’t a close to a sure thing.
Remember all these schools practice holistic admissions but I think most schools look at GPA and course rigor ahead of test scores.
GPA all day every day. Btw taking more AP courses will likely lower your Gpa. Place Gpa ahead of course rigor as well.
@theanaconda why would taking more AP courses lower your GPA they carry more weight.
because unweighted is the one colleges look at because schools weight classes differently
They only lower your gpa if you don’t get an A.
@a20171 true but a 4.0 with a bunch of AP classes looks better than a 4.0 with all standard and honors.
@theanaconda you shouldnt take easier classes just to have a high uw. if that was the case, everyone would take low level classes. A 3.8 with all APs looks better than a 4.0 with none
Not 0 APs, but a 4.0 with 12 APs is better than a 3.9 with 16 APs, don’t kikl yourself on course rigor
Nobody truly answered my actual question haha.
I would say Kid B. OK so his SAT score is a 2200, not close to perfect, but he’s got great course rigor along with an unweighted 4.0. Given that both kids have phenomenal EC’s, recommendations and essays, I think Kid B has it better. Colleges LOOK at both but they want to see that you’re the perfect package, in a different way than people would normally expect them to look.
Check their CDS. Usually, they put GPA as more critical factor as that shows your cumulative works in the past few years while SAT may just take a few months to achieve a good score.
@billcsho what’s CDS?
Common Data Set from each school.