<p>I have heard from many people, both in real life and on CC, that Stern cares only about stats (test scores in particular) and only glances at teacher recs/essays. Also, I have the impression that SAT > GPA, because I know a couple of people who got in with <3.5 GPAs but very high SAT scores. How much truth do you think there is to these claims?</p>
<p>I doubt it’s purely numbers based. I’m sure they care about other things, they rank the essay, character, and talent as equal importance to the SAT and GPA. Until last year, the character and talent and even essay were ranked as important while GPA and SAT were very important. </p>
<p>Point is they’re holistic, and I doubt, unless you apply with a 1500 SAT and 2.5 GPA, they’ll deny you flat out.</p>
<p><a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?;
<p>Relative Importance of Application Elements
Secondary school record: Very Important
Class rank: Important
Talent/ability: Very Important
Interview: Not Considered
Extracurricular activities: Very Important
Volunteer work: Important
Character/personal abilities: Very Important
Application essay: Very Important
work experience: Considered
SAT/ACT scores: Very Important
Recommendations: Important
High school GPA: Very Important</p>
<p>Checkout the link on Stern FAQ’s thread and you will get an idea, the last year 2010-2011 stats are available.</p>