<p>The OP’s question was inspired by his concern that a lackluster extracurricular record might present a problem, so he was wondering which top schools would give greater relative weight to very high standardized test scores.</p>
<p>MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc. have a surplus of very high scoring applicants (according to their own statements), so they can afford to emphasize “fit”, “building a class”, etc. without danger of lowering the stats of the admitted class. I think schools such as Vanderbilt, Rice, and other top-20 (USNWR) do not have so many extra top scorers waiting in the wings. While they also want to put together a class that complements the overall mission of the university, I thing they might make exceptions for students with SAT scores at or near 2400. </p>
<p>We always hear about how HYPMS regularly deny admission to very top SAT scorers, but we don’t hear that about the rest of the high-ranking schools.</p>