<p>I had a decent ACT 31 - 4.0 UW & 4.66W GPA and a very rigorous course load - great EC's - with passion and commitment - Lot of commendable demonstrated leadership - great essay - excellent RECS - had my heart set on Brown - was rejected. Yale - rejected. So go figure!!</p>
<p>I would say it definitely depends on the school's report sent with the application, because adcoms take that into consideration more than anyone realizes I think. If your school is an underdeveloped, noncompetitive school, then it's test scores all the way. If you go to an extremely competitive high school with the hardest classes, GPA matters the most I would say.</p>
<p>You need both. You won't get into a top notch school with a bad gpa and a good test score just like you wont get in with a good gpa and a bad test score.</p>
<p>Sorry I cannot help based on experience, only as an (old) observer.</p>
<p>A 20th percentile class rank, for example, and 1450 SAT tells me the person is bright but not committed to classwork. A 5th percentile class rank and 1250 SAT tells me the person works really hard, has great relationships with teachers, but might not be able to handle the rigors of an elite college curriculum.</p>
<p>Personally, I'd feel more comfortable about the likely success of the first. It is my bias, as I have not data to back up that impression.</p>
<p>GPA. I had low test scores and did great.</p>
<p>DunninLA, I feel the same way. I'd rather deal with lots of potential rather than a workhorse who's working habits might not carry them as far (as much as an 18 year old could judge this subject).</p>
<p>I honestly i don't know for me.
I really wanted to go to UCI. My GPA is a 4.09 with a really low test score 1480?.
but i was denied admission.
So i do not know :[</p>
<p>let's see... i go to one of the "top" high schools in the nation, have a 30+ score on the ACT, but my (UW) GPA is less than 3.6... I was waitlisted at Dartmouth and Penn... amongst other things, I think my GPA did me in (however, neither GPA nor test scores can always be accurate reflections of ability-I'm a prime example of this)</p>
<p>HIGH GPA, </p>
<p>GPA is 3.5 years of HARD WORK. SAT is crap.</p>
<p>I'm gonna say SAT's scores.</p>
<p>I have a few friends who have similar/ slightly higher GPA's, yet got rejected at schools I got into with much lower SAT's. Also I know a few people with much higher GPA's and the same SAT's and they just got in where I got in. This is just from personal/friends experience.</p>
<p>However at public universities like UC Berkeley where they don't count the type of HS, GPA will be worth a lot more.</p>
<p>
[quote]
HIGH GPA, </p>
<p>GPA is 3.5 years of HARD WORK
[/quote]
at some schools, all you have to do is show up to class in order to receive an "A"-not my idea of "hard" work...</p>
<p>I noticed that a lot of people said GPA. I say SATs personally. I guess if I was smart enough to get 2200+ SATs, I wouldn't try very hard either.</p>
<p>The SATs are better indicators of ability, for all the reasons stated above, but GPA is more important in college admissions. I have a rejection letter to prove it.</p>
<p>Gpa Killed Me.</p>
<p>EC10 its obvious as stated originally that both is ideal, but I know several and I bet you do too, great kids who were surprisingly admitted to either very top tier schools/ivies with either very high test scores and not matching GPA or a very high GPA with scores belows the schools norm hence the question I have posed.
All being said, I have to say ultimately I think also that GPA is the most important so for all you 9th,10th and 11th graders out there...keep working hard!</p>
<p>low test scores killed me....or at least according to CC/top college standards..</p>
<p>S had high standardized tests, A-/B+ average in challenging curriculum; I worried about his grades for college admissions, went 4 for 5. D doesn't do standardized tests well (28 ACT), A average in challenging curriculum and AP Scholar with Honor; I worried about her test scores for college admissions, went 5 for 6. Neither applied to very top tier but to some schools just below that. S probably did better in college admits than D would have if they had applied to the same schools but gender probably a bigger difference than the rest of their profiles; I am guessing that D's AP success offset her ACT scores somewhat.</p>
<p>Obviously, the SAT could be forgiven, but alot of people are sloppy students durent high school but when the moment of truth comes (college) they get their act together and get a a decent SAT, i think that the GPA in high school cannot be taken so much into account due to the fact that during this period a student goes through a lot of emotional stuggle, that afect severly in their grades. so i think that a LOW SAT could and will hurt much more.</p>
<p>pablo I agree with you....I truly belive that when universities take the decisions of accepting a new student they care the most abiout the SAt score. Imagine this, there is only one place left in the university, the admissions council has two students trying to get in, would they prefer the student with the highest GPA or the student with the highest SAT score?</p>
<p>Really, what shows a better intelectual coeficient, GPA that includes things like homeworks, class participation, and attendance, or the SAT an exam showing all your individual skills on diferent types of subjects, it is really complicate, but shows the real deal!!</p>