<p>Is GPA more important than the SAT scores?</p>
<p>Yes...........</p>
<p>yes (10 char)</p>
<p>:( (10 chars)</p>
<p>Depends on the school--for some schools, standardized tests are totally optional. Have not yet read of a school that considers grades optional. :)</p>
<p>Some schools will consider standardized tests more than others, particularly in deciding whether to award merit $$$.</p>
<p>My guess: When they look at academics, grades are worth 60% and test scores 40%. So, yes, GPA > SAT/ACT</p>
<p>I would say that for many top schools, it is not the numerical GPA that is most important, but your grades taken in context. The difficulty of your courseload and the competitiveness your school are both very important.</p>
<p>Class rank does it for me.</p>
<p>If you're in an extremely competitive school, it can help if you have test scores that are much higher than your GPA & class rank would otherwise be & you've taken very challenging courses.</p>
<p>Perfect GPA in a mediocre school with not so challenging courses would not be as impressive.</p>
<p>yesssssssss</p>
<p>SAT is probably the least important part of the application, just a necessity</p>
<p>Transcript is the most important: that is a combination of grades and courses taken (rigorous courseload)</p>
<p>I guess I'll believe all of you when some numerical evidence supports your conclusions. I'm not a fan of just listening to whatever the marketing department at a school has to say.</p>
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SAT is probably the least important part of the application, just a necessity
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<p>I don't agree. Many universties like to give their acceptance rates for the previous class inthe various SAT and GPA ranges. (As expected, higher the SAT, greater is the chance of being accepted.) So SAT seems to play some important role in the ADCOMs minds.</p>
<p>And why would something be a necessity if it wasn't important? It sometimes stuns me that this is a board for college-bound students.</p>
<p>^^^^ They may say that so that they will get as many applications as possible (They don't say that in writing on their website, do they?) and help with their selectivity numbers.
I am not arguing about the colleges that don't ask for SAT. But most top colleges do ask, and if you look at the admitted class profile, having higher SAT score seems to help. I think GPA is important but the SAT score helps the ADCOM normalize the various GPAs.</p>
<p>dude i'm not saying the sat score is going to be totally disregarded. You just seem to be overestimating its importance</p>
<p>Actually, I think the SAT is more important. Some schools have gross grade inflation. A person with a 3.8 GPA at a demanding high school can graduate valedictorian at some regular high school.</p>
<p>Most colleges complete what is called a "common data set" which is information about the school that is provided to College Board, US News, Petersons, and other college guides. This includes a list of the factors they use in admissions. You can quickly see and compare these factors and how schools rank them by checking their profiles on College Board which lists all the factors each school looks at; they are often ranked by very important, important and considered. Schools vary widely in how they rank admissions factors - some may consider GPA very important and test scores only important, others may rank these 2 factors just the opposite, many will list both as very important, some only provide a general list of all the factors they consider without ranking them further so you cannot tell (which gives them more discretion in relying on any of them). There really is no one answer and it all depends on the school.</p>