<p>Which (GPA or standardized scores) is more important, and why?</p>
<p>GPA because it is 4 years worth of work vs. 4 hours for SAT/ACT</p>
<p>This is an age old question, and there are a million threads and arguments on this (there seems to almost constantly be an argument over this, actually). There really isn't a straightforward question to answer, but I'll give you my version of it.</p>
<p>When evaluated correctly and thoroughly, GPA is the most important factor. What does this mean? This means that the actual, numerical GPA is not really important. The numerical GPA, when evaluated with respect to your class mates (hopefully, some sort of class rank is available, or, with top prep/magnet/elite public schools, the adcoms will know what a "good" GPA is) and the difficulty of your courseload, IS important. If I tell you that I have an unweighted 3.82 GPA, you might think "That sucks...that's like, barely top 25% in my school" or you might think, "Wow, that's like way higher than the Valedictorian's GPA at my school". When I tell you that I took a "most demanding" courseload and that my rank is top 2%, you have a much better idea about what my GPA means (Very good, not perfect). </p>
<p>Test scores are still very important, though, and can become even more so when a) a school has big grade inflation/deflation and b) when a school does not rank and is not particularly well-known to adcoms (not a well known prep/magnet/elite public school, pretty much). In these cases, test scores are quite important becuase they are needed to validate or invalidate the unclear transcript. Is this totally fair? Maybe not, but neither would be valuing an inflated 4.0 GPA over a lower, accurate GPA. Very few people get into the top schools with truly average test scores, and not that many get in with even all around 600 level test scores, as respectable as those are in a nationwide group of testers. You needn't have perfect test scores (or a perfect GPA, or either), but IN MOST CASES everything must be at least quite strong to be under serious consideration at the top schools.</p>
<p>grade inflation makes GPA almost worthless</p>
<p>I totally agree with a778999. I think about 75% of my grade of 65 has averages above 93/100, thanks to 10 extra points for APs and 5 for honors. Everyone in my grade is taking APUSH. Teachers sometimes give FULL CREDIT for doing test corrections, etc. A girl in my AP Bio class got a 55 on a test this quarter, but has an average of 94.</p>
<p>However, the SAT is a MUCH better indicator of raw intelligence. Only 3 people in my grade got over 200 on the PSATs, and I doubt many more will get over 2000 on the SATs. The AP tests and SAT IIs show which students actually know the material, and it exposes how inflated grades are.</p>
<p>^^^Definitely. Grade inflation is a big deal, and one of the reasons that I get huffy when people claim that AP scores have no effect on admissions at all. If you come from a good but nondescript large public school, like I do, that sends few kids to the colleges that you are applying to, AP, SAT, and SAT II scores can become quite important in proving that your grades are meaningful and that your academic preparation is up to snuff. Especially with SAT II and AP scores, that measure a finite amount of material, high scores are valuable. Yes, the testing anxiety/FairTest thing is an issue with standardized tests, but overall I think that standardized tests can give a clearer picture of a student's real place amongst the other candidates (allowing, of course, for extenuating circumstances when they exist) then the GPA.</p>
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grade inflation makes GPA almost worthless
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Most schools now give us distribution charts so we can see how high the GPAs go and where the applicant falls in their class. It makes it easy to spot the schools where As are given out like candy to 80% of the class.</p>
<p>Dean J - So how would you look at a kid who takes all honors and AP's, w/all 4's & 5's on the AP exams, a 4.3 UW, and in the top 5% of her class - but her SAT and ACT scores don't reflect this? It's a hard position for a student to be in, isn't it?</p>
<p>^^4.3 W oops!</p>