<p>This has probably been discussed before, but oh well...</p>
<p>People at my school don't seem to take the SATs and SAT IIs seriously at all. I mean, most people do really well, usually above 700, but no one seems to think that it matters that much. </p>
<p>So how seriously do colleges take your scores? And how good of a school can you get into with a 2300+?</p>
<p>None... if thats all you have. A 2300 is an amazing score (and will put you into concideration anywhere) but no score will get you in with out a good GPA, ECs ect. to back it up.</p>
<p>So you are saying that the vast majority of students at your school get above 700 on most SAT tests</p>
<p>I must say, sounds odd if they don't care about it all that much</p>
<p>I go to a private school with lots of smart kids. It's a depressing life, really. Way too much competition going on.</p>
<p>lol well if u wanan go to a top 30 college, the competition will only get worse. The SAT is an important factor whether we like it or not because its considered a "Fair" way to really see how "intelligent" a person is. Grades and GPA are biased based on a schools difficulty. If you go to a top 10 school like hotchkiss and u have a 3.0 and another student goes to some crap school in downtown LA and gets a 4.0 then GPA suddenly isnt a fair factor.</p>
<p>Usual heirarchy of importance:
1. Challenging class load
2. Class rank
3. GPA
4. SAT
5. ECs and Awards/Honors and talents
6. Essay
7. Recs
8. Interview</p>
<p>Of course, each college is unique. Larger schools tend to quantify more (GPA, class rank, test scores), while smaller leberal arts are really into the person you (essay, recs, activities)</p>
<p>so they do care but are too cool to show it</p>
<p>or just a little too overconfident. not you, xcotter, but the attitude of your peers seems familiar at my school, even if we aren't private.</p>