<p>One vote for SATs trumping GPAs.
Hernandez argues this in “A Is For Admissions”. But the admissions rate for 1600 scorers (old scale) was always much higher than for vals, as I remember about one in two at HYP versus one in five or six for vals.
Closer to home, I’ve had two kids do very well at admissions with no grades whatsoever, but with stellar testing.
My only experience has been with elite schools. State universites may well be different.
But college admissions folks will forever say that “the transcript is the most important thing…blah, blah, blah”.</p>