<p>While the SAT isn’t the be-all-end-all for admissions I think it plays a bit bigger of a role than colleges care to admit (because who would apply to a school that outright admits it cares about its freshman class having a high median SAT score). Of course, a high score won’t garuntee acceptance, but it certainly helps. If your score is a bit lower than a school’s typical range, you aren’t hopless as long as everything else on your application is up to snuff, in which case the score is just a small blemish. If your score is horrendously lower, however, your chance would be quite low unless you did something very epic to make up for it (e.g. you saved Africa or something like that).</p>