<p>Alright college confidential, I have applied to all my schools with the following stats: a 2360 SAT (with perfect scores on math & reading, arguably the most important sections on the SAT) and a 3.5 (weighted) GPA. As you can see, my GPA is not competitive for any top schools. But now we shall see how much a high SAT score can actually offset an abysmal GPA. Here are the colleges I applied to:</p>
<p>University of Chicago
Carnegie Mellon University (Economics)
Case Western Reserve University
Emory University
Emory University, Oxford College
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Loyola University in Chicago
New York University (CAS)
Northwestern University
University of Notre Dame
Reed College
University of Southern California
Vanderbilt University (Early Decision II)
Wake Forest University
College of William & Mary</p>
<p>Yep. 15 colleges in total. Any predictions on which colleges will be more prone to accepting a high sat score but low GPA? I will post the actual results as they come in (with the first being Vanderbilt and University of Illinois in February).</p>
<p>Friend with a high GPA (around 4.0 weighted I think) and a low SAT (1700s the last time I talked to him) got into Illinois Urbana Champaign. Might work the other way, too…</p>
<p>Interesting game, but my attention span is too short. If you could know your results in the next 15 minutes, I’d give it a whirl, but by April I will have forgotten about this.</p>
<p>entomom, I never asked anyone to chance anything. I just know a lot of people would be interested in my situation because it is an “extreme” of sorts, and it also gives hope to low GPA-ers too.</p>
<p>Also, this may help students find colleges willing to overlook a low gpa for a high test score.</p>
<p>GPA and strength of schedule are the single most important factors for admission a most schools - my kid is proof of that with an ED admit to Cornell engineering. My other kids went to Vanderbilt. I think the low GPA will make an early admit tough, but not impossible. You may look like an underachiever. Of course, there are many other factors that go into these decisions like essays and EC’s. Our college counselor told us that the worst situation to be in in high SATs and low grades. Your grades aren’t low, but they don’t match your SAT’s. Good luck - it’s a great list of schools and you’ll be admitted to several of them, most likely.</p>
<p>2 stats is not all the adcoms look at.<br>
I disagree that high test scores and lower gpa is a risky picture. It’s the other way around. High GPA and lower stats on national standardized tests can signal grade inflation. Or, an easy hs experience. In contrast, a 3.5 can be the result of attending a rigorous hs and taking mainly tough classes. In that case, higher numbers on the national standardized tests will show well.</p>