<p>^Absolutely agreed.</p>
<p>Decently intelligent hard workers always win over lazy geniuses.</p>
<p>SAT should be more influential because my SAT is better than by GPA, but I’ve heard back from everywhere so who cares anymore</p>
<p>Some problems with SATs:</p>
<p>You can take them over and over again. Most colleges take either the highest overall or the highest of each category. Not so meaningful, imo.</p>
<p>Like hilsa said, you can pay money to improve your scores by taking more prep classes.</p>
<p>You can study for them and learn the “tricks” fo good test taking.</p>
<p>GPA shows work over time.</p>
<p>Even though GPAs vary from school to school, they are more informative when viewed in the context of a school’s grading methods. And your guidance counselor provides that information to the colleges.</p>
<p>If I HAD to pick one on the spot, I’d say GPA.</p>
<p>I vote SAT/ACT</p>
<p>I applied to schools that I thought were reach, matches and safties for my GPA (3.06) and got accepted to all of them (Clemson, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Northeastern, UMass, Purdue, NC State) I have reason to suspect that my ACT score of 34 may have factored into my good luck.</p>
<p>You can also pay to improve your GPA, too… It’s called tutoring or paying smart friends to do your homework for you.</p>
<p>(yeah, my school has a lot more in common with the Mafia than Ridgeway High…unfortunately)</p>
<p>Sorry. I assumed people didn’t cheat by having others do their homework to earn their grades. Tutoring? Really? I’ve never heard of a high schooler being tutored. Usually they’re the ones tutoring the little kids.</p>
<p>Still, your GPA shows progress and work ethic (again, assuming people don’t cheat). SAT shows potential, but that’s potential. A lot of people don’t live up to it by being slackers.</p>
<p>SAT’s for sure.</p>
<p>I have to say that they’re both bad indicators, but SAT is better than GPA. Really though, I think subject tests should be the way to go. In most other countries, seniors in high school have to take a variety of subject tests on all they’ve learned. These tests are used not only to decide who graduates but also to decide college admissions. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that students retain what they learn after 4 years of high school. It’s more fair than SAT which is a g-loaded test (almost like an intelligence test) and it’s more fair than grades because it tests you directly on what you know.</p>
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<p>that is why i choose SAT</p>
<p>The fact is, the SAT (or ACT if you prefer) is the number first looked at in both public and private school admissions. Especially for public schools, if your SAT is at a specific level you could be an auto-admit. For non-hooked applicants at private schools the SAT is used in the weed-out process (think getting above 2250 or some sort of standard that people normally recognize).</p>
<p>Yes, I vote AP scores/SAT IIs. Those also are standardized and compare you to students across the country. And these scores actually correlate to how hard you worked and how well you learn material.</p>
<p>And there we have it! AP/ SAT II is the way to go! (yes, I agree with this, too)</p>
<p>I am late in posting here, but as the parent of a great student (with a 34 ACT) that was bumped out of the top 10% of her class by ‘grade grubbers’ that get higher grades in regular courses while she has a full AP courseload, I am glad that the vote came out the way it did. She is in at 6 of 9 schools so far, all top 100 LAC’s, with merit aid offers up to and including full tuition, so it can be done with a “not so great” GPA…</p>
<p>Rachacha, I caught the Rochester reference. I am from Rochester. I think I remember you posting questions a while back. Congratulations to your daughter. Where was she accepted? Which is her top choice? It is interesting to hear how things turn out.</p>
<p>Well, Rachacha, colleges definitely consider rigor of courseload perhaps even equal to GPA, so that had to have helped her.</p>
<p>But I think most schools either a) rank based on weighted GPA or b) don’t rank.</p>
<p>But I agree, if a school ranks based on UNweighted GPA, then that’s ■■■■■■■■.</p>
<p>Between SAT and GPA I’d say SAT because that compares you nationally while GPA at most compares you to the others in the exact set of classes as you.
That being said, I rarely hear admissions people say GPA (besides at Stony Brook), they say transcript. That’s a combination of the difficulty of classes you took and the grades you got in them. That coupled with the school profile is most important.
I’d post the tally but we lost count of that a while ago.</p>
<p>Yes, that is the number one thing. I think that’s what the OP meant, since we all know GPA out of context means nothing.</p>
<p>Definitely transcript should be and is the most important part of your college application.</p>
<p>I agree totally with ginab:</p>
<p>TRANSCRIPT is the way to go…</p>
<p>A 4.0 UW GPA, coupled with an even higher W GPA (showing that you’ve taken difficult courses), should show that you’ve managed to get straight A’s all during high school, while taking a challenging course load. If they see all Honors and AP classes, they would have to know you’re not a slouch. That has to say something. How can that not be a better indicator to Admissions people than your test taking ability? (And I’m not saying that’s how Admissions thinks, just that’s how I think.)</p>
<p>Nah, I vote standardized test scores (including SAT II’s and AP) over transcript. That’s because you can be a slouch, or at least your school can be one, and you can get A’s in supposedly tough classes and still get 3’s 2’s and 1’s in AP exams. And it’s not an anomaly-the average AP score is less than 3 on a lot of tests and I know from first hand experience that a score in that range shows very little, if any, understanding of the material at a college level. That being said, I would conclude SAT>GPA, all test scores>transcript, transcript>SAT. I say the last, because I think an impressive transcript means more than an impressive SAT score because the SAT could be a fluke. A history of high test scores on AP’s, SAT II’s in addition to the SAT is not however. I’m not sure how all schools look at it though.</p>
<p>GPA by far. It doesn’t matter if you scored a 2300 on the SAT, if you can’t do your homework and projects then you’re going to fail school, regardless of how “intelligent” you appear on a test. Nothing should be simply handed to someone based on pure “skills” alone. Those that want to get into college should work for it, no questions asked. GPA is not a joke, if you got bad grades in school then you’re lazy. Colleges should NOT accept lazy students.</p>
<p>Maybe some of you don’t understand how the world works but you have to put effort to succeed in any field. It doesn’t matter how innate your skill level is.</p>