<p>SRMom3 -- I think your approach would place undue emphasis on the SAT. I do NOT think that most colleges use SAT as the primary factor for admission -- it's probably more of a disqualifier than qualifier. That is, at hypothetical IvyU, the ad come won't even look at SAT's below 1300 unless the kid is an athlete, URM, legacy, or development case -- but for their purposes, a 1350 is the same as 1550 -- once the threshhold is met, they are looking at grades, class rank, course work, recommendations, etc.</p>
<p>I think the whole point of looking at the average or the middle 50 % is to see whether the applicant is in the ball park -- and if not, you can save the application fee unless the applicant has a very strong hook. I am looking closely at SAT figures this time around -- because that is my daughter's weakest area. So I'm taking a pessimistic point of view -- concentrating on weaknesses to determine which colleges she is NOT likely to get into. If she is in range - then we'll look to other factors. </p>
<p>As colleges become more selective, SATs become less & less relevant to the ultimate decision, except for their use as a preliminary method to weed candidates out.</p>