I know we need the SAT score and stuff, but I mean in even a deeper understanding. It would be better if people who already experienced this process to answer this question. Like, what was your SAT score? Which colleges accepted you? How was the interview? How did you choose your college? Etc.
You will find this sort of information on the school-specific subforums. (Ivy League, Colleges and Universities)
This is a very generic question. If you want more info on what is important to a given school, try Googling " Common Data Set". It will give you tons of info on stuff like SAT ranges, # of graduates in each major, costs, # of students getting need based aid & merit aid, and what the college considers for the admissions decision. You also might check out the threads for a given college that start each spring with admissions results, you can often see examples of who was accepted and rejected with quite a bit of detail.