<p>Today, a girl in my class said "SATs don't matter, my friend got into Seton Hall and her SATs were awful. They only matter for scholarships. Another friend of mine got a 1600, and got into Penn State."</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>SATs don’t matter if you took the ACT instead or applied to only SAT optional schools. 
OR, if you have something very important that helps offset them (super high GPA, fabulous extra curricular accomplishments, and/or a hook like being an under represented minority or an athlete). I think they still matter for those “OR” categories, but you can get away with a lower score and still get admitted to some schools.</p>
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<p>They matter for scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, and some state schools have specific criteria published on scores. I expect they also matter in many cases in the merit scholarships handed out by colleges. There are also a lot of scholarships that don’t look at standardized test scores at all, too. But I don’t see how that translates into “SATS don’t mean…”. Who doesn’t want (and need) scholarship money?</p>
<p>Standardized exams do not matter if the institutions of higher education to which you apply, and any scholarships for which you wish to be considered, do not require them. If they are required they do matter. There are many students in the arts for whom the portfolio, audition, or lists of performance/production credits matter much more than ACT/SAT exams (and in some cases even more than GPA).</p>
<p>Frankly neither of those schools is a good indicator of what weight an SAT carries. Seton Hall’s average seems to be just over a 1500. Penn State’s 25%ile is just above 1600.</p>
<p>She just contradicted herself… unless, of course, she as an aversion to scholarships…</p>
<p>I wish SATs weren’t important, but they are. There’s no refuting that claim, unless you’re talking about a test optional school. Even at those, they are still helpful in both admissions and scholarships.</p>
<p>SATs are important!</p>