<p>does cornell take the highest sat score from each section?</p>
<p>Yes, yes, and double yes. Moved me from a 1490 to a 1550. Added question. Do some schools have an ulterior motive in doing this, say, to boost their average SAT score?</p>
<p>probably...since it probably won't help the candidates (if you're getting a higher score, alot of others are too xP, so it'll even out)</p>
<p>good point jerew</p>
<p>"probably...since it probably won't help the candidates (if you're getting a higher score, alot of others are too xP, so it'll even out)"
Not if you're in my position, where I scored well and do not need to take it again. :(</p>
<p>I found it laughable that the speaker at a cornell info session in L.A., mentioned this policy, and concluded saying "At cornell, we are always trying to help you, always looking for reasons to admit you." or something like that. If collegeboard made it easier to score high on the SATs, would that help you? Only if you were scoring lower before, because now the SAT scores are inflated, making adcoms put less weight on them (this actually happened, and with highschool grades too).</p>
<p>Only with some HS grades. Some schools certainly do not inflate. And some schools that give weighted GPAs, well it's all null and void since that gets nixed when cornell recalculates an unweighted GPA for you.</p>
<p>That is a rather amusing comment though. "We're making you (and everyone else who applies) a better applicant."</p>
<p>sparticus, if you compare today's HS, and colleges for that matter, grades are highly inflated.
Here is a quote (though you are better off reading the whole article):
"According to the College Board, the percentage of high- school students taking their SAT-I with A+, A and A- grade-point averages has risen to nearly 40 percent from 28 percent in the past 12 years. During the same period, SAT-I scores fell an average of 12 points on the verbal section and 3 points on the math section. "</p>
<p>"the U.S. Department of Education reported that A students in high-poverty schools scored about the same level in reading as C students in schools serving students from affluent homes. In math, they scored about the same level as D students in most affluent schools. "</p>
<p>It's kinda sad that, even if you have a 4.0 GPA at a mediocre inner city school, you may be just as smart as someone with a 2.0 GPA at a good school in an affluent district.</p>
<p>" In a recent study in California, one school system rewarded teachers based on grades they distributed: The higher the grades, the more likely the teacher to receive kudos or a bonus. And many students and parents demand good grades, whether they are earned or not. </p>
<p>Many people believe that high grades will enhance chances for a higher education. But admissions officers focus on class rank, test scores and students' activities, none of which is aided by inflated grades. "</p>
<p>"It's kinda sad that, even if you have a 4.0 GPA at a mediocre inner city school, you may be just as smart as someone with a 2.0 GPA at a good school in an affluent district."</p>
<p>thats retarded. besides everyone knows SAT doesnt measure smartness</p>
<p>to quote myself
[quote]
Only with some HS grades. Some schools certainly do not inflate. And some schools that give weighted GPAs, well it's all null and void since that gets nixed when cornell recalculates an unweighted GPA for you.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The word "some" all over the place there, i'm not taking any stance saying theres no grade inflation. Granted though, you have a very good point.</p>
<p>With regard to the inner city schools GPAs, that IMO is not grade inflation so much as different standards. There is a lower quality of education at a lower quality school, so students who do "well" there relative to their student body would be performing mediocrely at a more competitive, higher quality, school, relative to that higher quality school's more able student body.</p>
<p>"With regard to the inner city schools GPAs, that IMO is not grade inflation so much as different standards. There is a lower quality of education at a lower quality school, so students who do "well" there relative to their student body would be performing mediocrely at a more competitive, higher quality, school, relative to that higher quality school's more able student body."</p>
<p>Sparticus800, that no doubt goes on, but there is also a higher average GPA at inner city schools, according to the article, which means it's not just a lower standard, but the teachers give out more As than at the elite school across town. If it were just different standards, the average GPA between the two groups would be about the same.</p>
<p>What does it all mean?
You are effectively punished for going to the better school, because of the reasons enumerated above, colleges are reluctant to take more than a few kids from each school, and you have to compete for a high class rank (another measure that can easily turn bogus).</p>
<p>you're right I should have read the whole article. :)</p>
<p>What else does it mean:
It also means teachers and administrations know it's alot easier to pass kids through the system giving them Ds and teaching them nothing than failing them and having burdensome troublemakers in the school for an extra year or two. Even at schools like mine (rank 209 by those bogus USNWR HS rankings) the better indicator would be 13% of the senior class going ivy haha.</p>
<p>Yeah it does seem a bit strange though. With many top schools only considering your top score (mix & match at that), why doesn't College Board reinstate score selection?</p>
<p>because SOME schools only take your highest overall test score, and score choice would give an advantage to affluent applicants who could afford to have scores withheld and take the test 5 times or something like that. That would be unfair, and I'm pretty sure that concern was the primary reason score choice was axed.</p>
<p>I have to argue against grade inflation. I worked for my grades when there are not many of my classmates scoring A's in AP classes and lots of those getting 1400+ (old scale) on SAT I think that it can be definitively said that there are schools where grades are earned not given.</p>
<p>Nobody disagrees with you LockMonkey, theres just an article being referenced that has stats on how HS median grades are higher across the board. That's no reflection on your particular school.</p>