<p>High math SAT scores helps kids who studied the humanities and social sciences. High verbal SAT scores help engineers and computer scientists who are interested in corporate roles (i.e. job in finance or technical marketing or sales.) Again- just a data point. You are guys are looking at this like Kremlinologists trying to figure out what happened to Gorbachev’s wife. It is not mysterious. Yes, as Coase says, the SAT provides additional context for interpreting the GPA. Not better, not worse, additional. PLUS- it is free (unlike our own tests which we pay to develop, validate, administer and interpret- so not a zero cost enterprise by any means, even though for some roles we need our own data). PLUS- it is legal (until someone successfully sues and is able to prove that there was some gender or racial bias by using the SAT in making employment decisions. PLUS- it is quick (reading through a transcript is time consuming, and making sense of some of the bizarre course titles at some colleges is VERY time consuming.) PLUS- post re-centering, SAT data is largely unchanged year to year and is consistent across a very big country. I’ve worked in companies that loved kids who were members of academic Honor Societies- which at some schools might be top 10%. At other colleges it’s top 30%. At still others, only courses in your major “count”. So using a nationally normed test (the meaning of an 800 doesn’t fluctuate wildly from year to year) is a helpful datapoint.</p>