<p>In your own opinion, what do you think matters the most to adcoms?</p>
<p>It differs by school.</p>
<p>But the basic stuff - GPA, SAT is the most important, IMO. Although you have amazing ECs and Essays, but POOR grades ? Meh.</p>
<p>Probably your HS grades because it shows your achievement over a long period of time (not just 3 hrs like the SAT). As long as your backed up by solid ECs and SATs.</p>
<p>Each school ranks criteria differently but most state that they see
GPA and strength of high school schedule in terms of challenge and rigor as most important</p>
<p>Class rank, SATs, difficulty of classes, recs, ECs in that order unless you have exceptional ECs in which case ECs come after SATs.</p>
<ol>
<li>GPA</li>
<li>SATs</li>
<li>ECs</li>
<li>Essays</li>
<li>Recommendations</li>
<li>Minority status</li>
<li>Legacy</li>
<li>Class rank</li>
<li>Course rigor</li>
</ol>
<p>But like colleges, they are hard to rank. Go check your school's profile somewhere; they should have admission factors listed under "very important, important, considered, or not considered."</p>
<ol>
<li>Grades/GPA</li>
<li>ACT/SAT or both</li>
<li>Essay(huge, I think lot of people underrate this b/c they think EC's are more important, but writing a good essay can really make the difference for you, b/c I believe it did for me).</li>
<li>Course Rigor</li>
<li>EC's</li>
</ol>
<p>(obviously, I just rated from my own experience of the colleges I applied to). </p>
<p>Other colleges probably put EC's a little higher on the ladder, but not me. Barely did anything and still got into a Big 10 school.</p>