<p>You see people with 2400 SATs get rejected from places like MIT and Harvard. Maybe they didn't have strong extracurriculars. In the international pool (the pool that I'm in), the competition in test scores and extracurriculars are freaking ridongculous. So my question is whether the resume is just a tool for the admission officers to recognize that an applicant is not a couch potato, and the essays are what really counts (or atleast accounts for more than the test scores and extracurriculars).
Or am I wrong in my thinking? Instead, the essay is important, but one needs to have an amazing resume and stats in order to stand out in the international pool at MIT and Stanford.</p>
<p>Every part of the application is important for schools like MIT, H and S. I wouldn’t necessarily take the leap that someone with a 2400 SAT that was rejected because their ECs or essays weren’t good enough. The part that is the most important, and which you put in your thread title but haven’t mentioned, is the HS record (difficulty of course work and gpa). A 2400 along with easy courses and/or a less than stellar gpa could signal sacker to many colleges.</p>