<p>This is to show all the future college apps that having high scores arent all you need to get into top schools. So please give your score and where you got waitlisted, rejected, and deffered. Good luck to future apps.</p>
<p>33 ACT (although my SAT didn’t quite make the cut at 2220). Rejected from Newcastle, Aberdeen, Cambridge, and Bowdoin.</p>
<p>2360… rejected from HYP</p>
<p>I still got into Stanford and Wharton though; a feat unmatched by anyone under a 2280 at my school. I guess test scores do matter.</p>
<p>34 ACT and rejected from Stanford SCEA. That was my “just for the hell of it” application, though, because my EC’s were just average.</p>
<p>Not to nitpick but a 33 ACT is more or less equivalent to a 2180 SAT. Nevertheless, I think it’s pretty obvious that many students with this score or above will nevertheless be rejected by top schools. It’s still important to remember that test scores still are a vital part of the application; it’s just that alone they will not get you in.</p>
<p>2350 SAT, rejected from Harvard and Columbia. Had a 3.45 UW GPA and absolutely no extracurriculars, though. However, I got into Tufts, Brandeis, and some other selective places. Probably <em>because</em> of my test scores.</p>
<p>So, sorry folks, test scores do matter. A lot.</p>
<p>Nice! That’s pretty indicative of the college adcom’s decision making process.</p>
<p>Basically, if you have high SATs, high GPA, and do something interesting (but have no pretenses of godhood), you’ll get into a top school, even if it’s not your top choice.</p>
<p>So bland! High SATs I understand, but what about the person who does something crazy cool and gets a really terrible GPA for it?</p>
<p>Did you watch the Harvard admissions interview (On Harvard Time)? It’s really funny.
[YouTube</a> - Harvard Admissions Dean Fitzsimmons Interview (On Harvard Time)](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSUcwGMwc2E]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSUcwGMwc2E)
Just forward to 3:49 if you want to skip all the obvious, not-so-funny stuff.</p>
<p>well I am not saying that tests scores arent important I am just saying that they are not the number one objective like alot of people make them out to be.</p>
<p>Well if you got a 2400 and everything else was terrible, I wouldn’t expect much. My brother took the SAT the first year of 2400, and he got a 2350 without every studying or taking practice tests. He just…got it. Anyhow, he had like a 2.4 GPA and he’s on the lower level of genius. One problem: he’s STILL going to community college, and he works at Six Flags. </p>
<p>“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.” Ben Franklin</p>
<p>
They are still the number one objective. But an applicant needs to be strong in basically every area in order to make it into Harvard without a hook.</p>
<p>
They are still the number one objective. But an applicant needs to be strong in basically every area in order to make it into Harvard without a hook.</p>
<p>I disagree I dont think that test scores are the number one objective. I think the transcript is the one of the most important part.</p>
<p>Pffft, transcripts? Easily influenced by non-academic factors, too dependent on memorization and the ability to “play the game”. </p>
<p>The SAT and SAT II’s are much better predictors of academic success. Why? They cannot be gamed. Any success/failures are due to the student’s abilities and preparation. It also predicts, to a lesser degree, how well a student can cope with high-stakes examinations, VERY SIMILAR to those you see in college (midterms and finals). </p>
<p>Sure, the exams fail to measure the depth of thought that, say, a hard problem set in a college engineering course would require, but HS doesn’t even get close to that level of thinking. The SATs use basic knowledge but force you to be clever. That’s why they’re good predictors.</p>
<p>good point there. So you are saying the SATs are the most important part of the applicaton. Not the difficulty of classes, the essays, your teacher recs, or anything else. Don’t get me wrong I think that they are probably in the top five of things that are most important in the college application. I just dont think that they are the number one thing.</p>
<p>I think the SATs may be what get your foot in the door in some cases, but I don’t think a 2400 is so much better than say, a 2300. Colleges know that there are prep courses and prep books out there, so as long as you have a decent score, it means you’re qualified.</p>
<p>OK, here’s how I see it. The whole point of HS is to get you intellectually prepared for the work ahead of you. The actual material isn’t worth JACK. So the SAT is a nice, convenient way to see, “did this person develop the skills s/he needed to succeed in the future?”</p>
<p>HS isn’t about learning basic chemistry or math (YES, people, AP is basic); it’s about exposing the students to some topics to help them see what they have an aptitude in (so they can pick a major) and, perhaps just as importantly, seeing if the work they’ve done has shaped their thinking sufficiently so that they could move on to the next level of education.</p>
<p>So I think that a high SAT score (2100 or above), certainly indicates strong thinking skills. However, most top colleges only have a limited amount of space, so naturally the higher the score, the less, by definition, your competition is. </p>
<p>SAT is just a way of ranking the students in the US in a uniform way. Higher your rank, the more appealing you look. It’s just common sense, pure and simple. </p>
<p>~Arachnotron</p>
<p>ok thank you arachnotron. You are a very intelligent person by the way and I must say that I agree with you 100% on your above post.</p>
<p>sstewart</p>
<p>
ZOMG! He rejected Jesus.</p>