SAT > GPA during admissions process?

Applying to College
21

<p>I’m not sure if this applies to any of the schools you’ve mentioned, but my college took the highest of each section of the SAT. So they’ll take the highest score you got in CR, Math, and Writing as your total SAT score. Giving it one last shot to pull it up at least a little bit might help. I also suggest taking the ACT if you can.</p>

<p>Also, an upward trend in GPA helps a lot, especially if you have been taking more rigorous courses!</p>

22

<p>Thank you so much for the advice. But in general, do you think most colleges are leaning towards the GPA more rather than more emphasis on just one 4 hour test? I’ve seen a recent study on admissions weighing GPA slightly more than the SAT but they look into both holistically… @bananacream and @husky1212 I thiink my score is already superscored. </p>

23

<p>Standardized tests are the one way schools can compare applicants across their pools. So unless a college says the tests are optional, they usually weight them fairly heavily. You can’t really say that they weight GPA more heavily… but it is considered. You either need to cram and test one more time, or accept that schools where your scores are on the low end are reaches for you, and adjust your list if necessary to make sure you have more matches and safeties. You probably have to do the list adjustment to some extent anyway, since you can’t wait until scores come back again to start working on applications. This is the reality of college admissions, especially to top colleges.</p>

24

<p>My college also reviews holistically—they look beyond the GPA/SAT/ACT.</p>

<p>I would research the colleges you’re going to apply to, to see if they have average statistics for freshmen applicants available. If you’re within the range (minimum or if you exceed the minimum), I would work on the personal statement. </p>

<p>While I also think that the GPA is weighed more than the standardized test scores…
Rigor of your courses and your class rank/standing are also important. If your GPA was earned from challenging courses, your GPA could actually outshine your SAT score. If your class rank is within the top percentile, that would prove admissions something (or if you have a 3.75 but your class rank is low, then it would mean that it is easy to earn/maintain that GPA at your high school).</p>

25

<p>Are you applying through HEOP? As this changes the test requirements somewhat.</p>

<p>Colleges weigh everything BUT you need to meet a certain threshold number. For NYU, I think it’d be about 1700, for instance - that is, they need to make sure that your processing speed is up to par with the other students. Your GPA indicates you can do the work but you’d need to have mostly Honors since you have few APs. Colleges WILL see your senior year schedule and will hold on any decision until they’ve received your senior year report, unless you applied to colleges that stop in 11th grade.</p>

<p>You have two choices:

  • recalibrate your list so that half the schools are colleges where an average SAT is 1550-1600, 25% are schools with SAT average scores are 1600-1800, and 25% are colleges with scores in the 1500-1550 range.
    or
  • take the ACT in December - the ACT is slightly different from the SAT and some students do better on it: it’s more closely related to what you study in school, you don’t get points off for wrong answers, you have to work faster (but you can bubble in letter A (or B) at no risk in the last minute since wrong answers don’t take points off), there are 5 clearly delineated sections so you can focus on each skill at once (Reading, English grammar/vocabulary, Math, Science Reasoning, and Writing).</p>
26

<p>Other way around sonny.
That said, it’s still valued highly.</p>

27

<p>bump</p>

28

<p>I really think you should look into test optional schools. If you’d like them to just weigh GPA more than scores, then wouldn’t it be nice if they didn’t see scores at all? Good luck!</p>