<p>So I have an SAT score of 2220 (790CR/690M/740W), which is the second highest that anyone has received in my class. However, due to some trouble at home during high school, my grades dropped a bit my sophomore year and I got a few B's. My GPA is currently approximately a 3.75-3.8 unweighted and my rank is 19/220.</p>
<p>How much do you guys think that my low rank and GPA will hurt me? Some schools I'm applying to are: UPenn (ED), Columbia, UChicago, Johns Hopkins, and Northwestern. </p>
<p>This isn't a chance thread, I just want to know how much weight a good SAT score has against a somewhat mediocre (for these schools) rank and GPA.</p>
<p>GPA usually trumps the SAT. But you can explain to them in an interview or on additional info sections why your grades slipped a little bit. But know that it’s usually GPA/grades > SAT scores</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the trend today is to give the SAT less weight.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with this trend, because I think everyone knows deep down that a kid who received a 2300 has the ability to do well academically, and that there are a lot of kids out there with high gpa’s because of grade inflation, or a high school’s lenient grading policies. </p>
<p>I have been trying to get a list of schools that give great weight to the SAT, as opposed to gpa, but when I have posted such a thread on CC before, I didn’t get much of a response.</p>
<p>By the way, my son is also applying to JH and UC.</p>
<p>I heard that GPA (from rigorous classes) is more important than standardized test scores.</p>
<p>For those colleges on your list, you need to have High GPA (or high class rank if you have relatively low GPA) AND high standardized test scores if you are an unhooked applicant. There are MANY MANY applicants with 2300+ or/and 34+ and 3.9+ from very rigorous classes.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s what I thought. I did have my guidance counselor explain my circumstances in her recommendation, and I also explain in the “additional information” section of the commonapp. I’m also a first generation college student, which I’m hoping will give me a bit of a boost, although it’s not that much compared to URM status or maybe even legacy status. </p>
<p>I guess I just have submit the apps and hope for the best.</p>
<p>floridadad: I wish you and your son the best of luck.</p>
<p>FloridaDad, I see your point about GPA to a degree but I think the comparison among schools is tempered by class rank. That being said, U South Carolina and U Montana weight scores higher than GPA.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor providing explanation to this, as well as your explanation, should allow your GPA to considered at least slightly differently. Those soft factors, I feel, allow for (somewhat) more careful consideration of GPA/performance.</p>