How rare is a 4.0 2400?

<p>How many of you know people with such stats, and what schools were they accepted to? Roughly what percentage of ivy applicants meet this criteria? Is it possible that, given the student has no infractions, he/she would be rejected by every top 20 school? I'm curious since I've heard a lot of "ivies reject many 4.0 2400s every year" spewed around this forum.</p>

<p>A student perceived as a perfectionist and a grinder with no interests outside academics, no spark of creativity, and without much personality could certainly be rejected from the very top schools even with these stats. But probably would get in at some top 20 schools. </p>

<p>its very very rare . </p>

<p>At Stanford, 80% of 2400 applicants get rejected. It’s rare, but that doesn’t make it interesting.</p>

<p>I have the titular stats. Extrapolating from this thread, 20% of College Confidential users have them. (I haven’t taken AP Statistics yet, so there is a remote possibility that I may be in error.)</p>

<p>I think it’s like 50% but I could be wrong. Either way, 20%>>>>5%.
4.0/2400 is rare and really helps your chances at any college. Over the last 4 years, the only people with 4.0/2400’s at my school are at caltech, Harvard, and 2 at Yale.</p>

<p>A 4.0/2400 doesn’t guarantee anything however, or even close. The 4.0 is more important than the 2400, you want that. But don’t chase a 2400 if it will hurt your (grades at all) or your EC’s, a 2300 or 2350 with better ECs will easily beat out a 2400 with bad EC’s. Above 2250 the reward for extra points is rather small (although not quite 0).</p>

<p><a href=“Stanford Magazine - Article”>Stanford Magazine - Article;

<p>According to the above page, 69% of 2400-SAT applicants from 2008-2012 were rejected. (The percentage rejected probably increases every year.)</p>

<p>I have heard the 50% number for Harvard before (if I recall correctly, an admissions officer there informally stated that Harvard rejects half its 2400-SAT applicants) but I am not sure how recent or precise that figure is. </p>

<p>Many top schools reject a lot or even a majority of applicants with perfect stats, but getting shut out of all Ivies and Ivy-equivalents with perfect stats (or even near-perfect stats) would be extremely unlikely. You’d have to do pretty badly on your essays and some major flaw would have to be exposed in your teacher recs, IMO.</p>

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<p>That is completely untrue. A 4.0 may be very difficult or not so difficult to achieve, depending on the quality of your high school. A 2400 is the same level of difficulty for everyone. Schools SAY that GPA is the first driver, but it doesn’t pan out in the way they act, nor in the stats they love to brag about for their freshman classes. I’d rather be the student with a 3.8 and a 2400 than the student with a 4.0 and a 2200 in the college admissions process. My 3.7 student with a 2380 got in everyplace she applied last year with some top schools on her list. </p>

<p>@intparent: Many privates certainly seem to care more about test scores while many publics seem to care more about GPA (though with them, it’s more that a lowish GPA/class rank becomes unacceptable regardless of test scores).</p>

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<p>Be careful with this statement. I am willing to bet there are far more 4.0 than 2400, and of course, not all 2400s have 4.0. I agree that stats aren’t the only thing, or even the most important thing, but that 4.0 needs to be put in a context (which the 2400 along with ECs and essays provide).</p>

<p>@intparent Be mindful when making absolute statements. What you just said was your opinion, not fact. </p>

<p>Taken from the Yale admissions website: </p>

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<p>Here, we can see that a 4.0 is in fact paramount to a 2400 on the SAT. </p>

<p>There is a good reason for this too. There is very little that a student can do to change what is already on their transcript. And there is also very little a student can do to “practice” a GPA. However, a student can take a practice SAT every day for 2 years and take the real exam once and get 2400. Yale’s sentiment is likely echoed at every elite school. That would explain why no school has an average SAT score over 2300. </p>

<p>@AnnieBeats:</p>

<p>“Yale’s sentiment is likely echoed at every elite school.”</p>

<p>As you said, be mindful when making absolute statements. There are some elites who I believe would take in any 2300+ student they can get their hands on if they believed said student would enroll, but the reason why their average isn’t above 2300 is because those kids tend to have choices and some/many choose another elite.</p>

<p>It is ridiculous to take seriously stats like 50 or 60% of 2400, 4.0 students are rejected out of context, without looking at how candidates with lower scores do. What happens when the variable drops to a 3.9 gpa or a 2380? Or a 3.7 and 2300? Of course these “perfect” scores don’t guarantee anything, but it would be interesting to see if there’s a real bump for those scores vs. stats just slightly below. </p>

<p>@PurpleTitan Emphasis on the word likely. </p>

<p>I found a reference that in 2013, only 360 or 0.022 percent, scored a 2400. </p>

<p>DS got one math question wrong and that kept him from a 2400. He characterized the question as a “count on your fingers” question, but there you go. To be filed in the “stay positive, find the silver lining folder,” my son’s response to his classmates who were clamoring for him to retake (a position I did not share) was that “you always hear of Adcoms rejecting 2400 score applicants, so luckily I dodged that bullet.”</p>

<p>Fwiw, he did not have a 4.0 but was accepted to his first choice school. </p>

<p>The GPA bar at elite schools is around a 3.7 – if you have below that, you likely will get tossed in the rejection pile. A 4.0 keeps you in the pile, but a 2400 gets you a stronger look. My kid had a 3.7 with great test scores (2380 superscored SAT, 800 Math II subject, 800 Lit subject) got in everyplace she applied. I know what colleges SAY…but that is not actually how they ACT in many cases.</p>

<p>My D’s friends- twin girls, both with 2400 SATs and 4+ W GPAs are sophomores at Stanford…they are both very talented artists and musicians also.</p>

<p>They would make UC Berkeley for sure. Cal uses a formula for admissions, and a 2400 and 4.0 makes the cut, regardless of any ECs or essays. ECs and essays are only looked at for students who don’t make the cut. #publicschools</p>

<p>I personally know of two.</p>

<p>One was accepted EA into MIT.
The other was rejected by more schools than she was accepted into (granted she was aiming very high).
Eventually got into Yale off of the waitlist.</p>