<p>Hi CC, </p>
<p>I had a quick question regarding SAT scores in the admissions process. How big of a deal is it? ie how does a college like Harvard or Yale take it into account? Is there a huge difference between someone who has a 2300+ with a 2200-2300? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>After 2250, sat scores will not be the reason of your rejection.</p>
<p>If you don’t get a 2400 you should only apply to community college</p>
<p>@TrynaMakeIt is correct. Don’t listen to the other guy.</p>
<p>However, I’d also add that to really be a competitive applicant for colleges like Harvard and Yale, I’d shoot for at least a 750 in each individual section of the SAT, and at least 2250 composite.</p>
<p>I say this because many of the top schools such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford explicitly state on their websites that they consider/focus on your highest score in each individual section of the SAT. So, if you have a 650 in one section but 800s in the other two, you <em>might</em> not look as great as someone who scored 750 in each of the three sections, even though you would both have a 2250 composite. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>I think it there is much to gain from the knowledge that a large amount of perfect and close to perfect SAT scores do not obtain gain admission to the aforementioned institutions. As I have previously mentioned my daughter is at New Haven and had 2130, but also had a very well-rounded application: state ranked athlete, URM, #2 in her class of 400+, female URM (native), unweighted 3.94, interest in studying STEM, and strong personal statement about her community. Ironically, her older sister who went on to GW medical school, had a SAT 100 points higher, and only gained admission to one Ivy, Dartmouth. The younger daughter applied to 4 Ivies and was admitted at 3.</p>
<p>Their importance will only increase as more and more applications come in- the less time they spend reading your app, the more the numbers will stick. Also, your composite score doesn’t really matter- HY both look and see if you are in the high, mid, or low 700’s in each section.</p>
<p>The good news is getting a high SAT score is not hard- it doesn’t take intelligence, just requires work. </p>
<p>Once you are over 2250, it wont’ be a reason to reject you</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses everyone! I was just wondering since my October SAT scores were great and I was wondering how much it mattered in terms of admissions to top schools! </p>
<p>No reason to believe there is no added benefit to an increase in score unless you are above 75% on all three sections (so for these schools pretty much every point counts).</p>
<p>That, of course, is not the same as saying a higher score is more important than other factors. Acceptance decision is binary, while there are countless factors that affect said decision. For these schools you will rarely be able to isolate a single factor for acceptance or rejection. That doesn’t mean that improving individual factors does not affect the process.</p>
<p>TL;DR: every point counts, but it is unlikely that any given improvement in score will be the X-factor that turns the binary switch from rejection to acceptance.</p>
<p>@YZamyatin what does it mean to be “above 75%.” do you mean the percentile? </p>
<p>Yes; most schools publish the 25/75% cutoffs for each test section, and the cutoff for the top range is generally very high for the most selective schools (800,800,800 & 800,790,800 for the two schools you mentioned).</p>
<p>I don’t think you can say for certain that a given score is ‘high enough’, meaning a higher score will have absolutely zero impact, until it is in the top range for the test section and school in question.</p>
<p>Some schools outright deny this, claiming once score are ‘high enough’ they no longer play a roll in impacting the final decision. They don’t necessarily publish what ‘high enough’ is, but presumably somewhere below 2400. So, take my opinion with a grain or more of salt.</p>