<p>There is an entire chapter dedicated to this topic in A is for Adimission. While the book is somewhat outdated, I doubt the process, and therefore the way college admissions officers look at applications has changed much.</p>
<p>In addition, regardless of how many people frequent CC, the number of people that post here cannot compare to the tens of thousands of applicants that colleges receive each year. Since Michele Hernandez was assistant director of admissions at Darthmouth, she probably knows the entire process better than any of us.</p>
<p>Finally, the point about the SAT averages applies to most cases, not all. And obviously, schools that were accepting applicants with 1300 (M+V) SATs cannot suddenly begin rejecting waves of 1400 SAT applicants. I don't know much about the UCs, except that their SAT policy is one-of-a-kind, and that they probably have their own reason for calculating the SAT as such - but not for this particular reason.</p>
<p>Really? An entire chapter that says SATs are more important that GPA? I really don't remember that.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm not sure how much I trust admissions people anyway. They keep telling us things like applying ED/EA gives no strategic advantage; the applicant pool is stronger, or it's okay if you have a low GPA if you're taking the hardest classes. Time and time again this is just not true. Time and time again the student with the best GPA wins out. Time and time again students have an easier time gaining admission through ED/EA. Now, the way I see it, either it's just some big coincidence that the hundreds of decision results I've seen just happen to all be the exceptions, or that the admission officers are simply saying one thing and doing another.</p>
<p>But even with my skepticism, whenever asked what is the most important criteria in the admissions process, admissions representatives have always said "GPA." I've attended numerous college visits, at my high school and on college campuses, and they always say this. Other people on this board have reported the same thing. My personal experiences seem to agree with this. So, I am inclined towards concluding that GPA is indeed, much more important than SATs.</p>
<p>Personally, I think SAT should be more important than GPA, but unfortunately the reality is that colleges look at GPA more than SATs. </p>
<p>Why? It is the same as principle as a tariff. Wheat farmers want to protect local wheat sales so tariffs are placed on foreign wheat. It is good for wheat farmers, but hurts the consumer. </p>
<p>Just like my wheat example, SATs is a fair judgement of skill. Since GPA varies from region and is often highly inflated, people who lack solid academic ability will stress the importance of using GPA (excuses such as GPA is the result of years of work while SAT is the result of 4 hours). Ultimately, such unfair practices will hurt the general populace. The more skilled people will be discriminated against in the process, which is why we need the SAT.</p>
<p>Class rank is also a good way to measure whether or not an individual is competent, but the SAT is still better since you are measuring against the entire nation not just your own school.</p>
<p>IMO, although the SAT is fair, it measures only specific skills from schooling. Anyways, I don't think my school would appear to have inflated grades because I know kids with significantly lower averages who scored better than me on the SAT. Also, so far I have taken 4 APs and although I'm still waiting for scores, if I got all 4/5's on them (Probably 5's) shouldn't that be just as good an indicator to a college that I will perform well? Next year I should (If my schedule fits) have 6 APs, plus 2 university courses so my courses are challenging. Does this balance my relatively low SAT (Compared to my GPA)?</p>
<p>sai2004, most colleges don't see much justification in putting more weight onto four hours of testing over four years of work in school.</p>
<p>Plus, the SATs have been controversial. Minorities and women usually don't do as well as Asians/Caucasians and men. Some say the SATs is biased. Also, you can prepare for the SATs, by taking classes or prepping for it, which makes the playing field even more skewed.</p>
<p>I agree that a 4.0 can mean two completely different things at two high schools. However, I think colleges somewhat takes a look at how competitive your high school is and take that into account. They have regional officers and such who get to know the high schools in the surrounding areas.</p>
<p>I also think AP scores should count a lot more in the admissions process because they are often a better indicator of college performance than just GPA.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how I feel about class rank because one year the class could be very strong, while another year it could be weak. I don't think someone should be punished just because his class happens to have some very strong students.</p>
<p>75-85% of your admission decision is based off of your academic index, which is out of 240 points, 160 of which are decided by your SAT and SAT IIs. The last third is decided by class rank/decile ranking/GPA - whatever your high school chooses to provide on your transcript.</p>
<p>Therefore, standardized testing is weighed more heavily than grades, and rightly so, for it would be and is extremely difficult to compare two applicants from different backgrounds, different states that went to schools with different academic rigor. Standardized testing is the great equalizer.</p>
<p>Just_Browsing, colleges know what your transcript means, especially if it's a wellknown public or private boarding school, but more often than you might think, college admissions officers are forced by the lack of information provided on the transcript to misevaluate an applicant's performance in high school.</p>
<p>I recommend reading A is for Admission by Michele Hernandez - it is an excellent resource for your questions.</p>
<p>Internet site says 32 is equivalent to a 2130 on the SAT I so those are solid scores for top 30 schools as well as a very high GPA. </p>
<p>Well, I got my AP scores today and so on my transcript I'll have three 5's (USH, Stat, and WH) and one 4 (Chemistry). Will that help/hurt me in college applications if they're looking at a lower SAT score? Obviously they won't take into account the scores for the APs I'm taking next year (Bio, Macro/Micro econonmics, english, government, and calculus).</p>
<p>"75-85% of your admission decision is based off of your academic index, which is out of 240 points, 160 of which are decided by your SAT and SAT IIs. The last third is decided by class rank/decile ranking/GPA - whatever your high school chooses to provide on your transcript."</p>
<p>gxing: Can you tell me where you got this info? All along I thought colleges give more weight to GPA. Thanks.</p>