<p>I heard many rumors that elite colleges(including HYMPS or watever) hate test robots (2400 SAT, 800 800 800 800 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 800....etc).</p>
<p>Here's a quote from Harvard's dean of admissions that was in a recent Business Week article. In other words, the top schools are looking for people who have more going for them than perfect scores. </p>
<p>"History is full of formerly great institutions that went to seed once they started taking their success for granted. But that hasn't happened at Harvard. Indeed, for all the years he has devoted to admissions, [Harvard admissions dean William] Fitzsimmons is still remarkably idealistic. "What we aim to do is to get the very best faculty together with the very best students," he says. "Our hope is that these synergies will develop the talents of these students to a much greater degree and that they will then give back a lot more to America and the world." That belief may sound corny, but it's clearly helped drive Harvard to go to enormous lengths to find the best and brightest.</p>
<p>What Northstarmom says is true, however that hardly means that having perfect test scores is a bad thing. I believe the admit rate for 1600s (on the old SAT) at Harvard was supposed to be around 40%, which is much higher than their average acceptance rate. I know that of the 4 people from my high school admitted to Yale this year, 3 had 2400s. As long as test scores aren't all you have, perfect scores can do nothing but help you.</p>
<p>Rank 1/500
GPA 4.3
ACT 36
SAT 2300
SAT IIs 800 750 800
Member of 8 Clubs, President of 5 of them.</p>
<p>So basically that's the insane, "perfect" student. But with no solid ECs? The top colleges won't even give a second glance. Test scores and GPA basically tell the admissions officer whether you're qualified to go to their college... and the rigor of the courseload and devotion to ECs determines whether or not you'll get in.</p>
<p>Of course, perfect scores are such statistical anomalies that they give a large boost... the difference between a 2300 and a 2400 statistically is HUGE... much much larger than, say, 2000 and 2100.</p>
<p>4.0 GPA
1600 (perfect SAT I)
Good SAT II's
No E.C's</p>
<p>Result: Rejected at Harvard, in at Uchicago.</p>
<p>My friend got into Yale with a 1350 SAT (on old scale). She took 5 APS (out of 25 offered), had a 3.8 GPA, involved in regular activities.
however she was hispanic, was a great writer, and started a children's school in Romania.</p>
<p>Even if she wasn't hispanic, having started a children's school in Romania was an outstanding EC that would have made her definitely stand out from the pack.</p>
<p>How did she manage to start the school?</p>
<p>"As long as test scores aren't all you have, perfect scores can do nothing but help you."</p>
<p>Very true. The perfect score students who get rejected from places like Harvard probably are the "test robots" who spent all of their time making sure that they had stellar grades and scores, but little time doing ECs or any other activities that would indicate that they could make a big difference on campus or in the community where the college is located. If all students can do is get good grades and scores, places like Harvard aren't interested because they want people who'll make some kind of difference in the world after graduation.</p>