<p>Does anyone know if some top schools (Ivy league, Stanford, etc.) have a reputation of being more or less holistic than others? Applicants with lower objective stats but other compelling traits might be more interested in schools that use a very holistic process. On the other hand, those with super high grades and test scores could prefer schools that cares more about those accomplishments. Any ideas?</p>
<p>From what I believe, the SAT is most important when choosing those students with “compelling traits.” They must meet a decently high SAT at Ivies (2000+) because if the college has to be ensured that the student will be able to keep up with the school’s curriculum/rigor. Those top notch schools are all VERY holistic AFTER the applicant has hit a marker showing that they are capable students.</p>
<p>Would love to hear more about this!</p>
<p>It is generally thought that at the most selective schools, an applicant needs near-maximum academic stats (4.0 or close to it GPA in the most rigorous available courses, >700 on every SAT reasoning and subject section), but (assuming s/he passes that bar) is then evaluated holistically against thousands of other applicants with near-maximum academic stats.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. Caltech may be an outlier in that it is said to be more focused on scores than other schools. You can’t tell from the Common Data Set because Class Rigor is very important and most other things are important.</p>
<p>The common data set is a good place to look for the answer. Which school has lower scores and GPAs?</p>
<p>You would not that among the top group, Stanford’s are a bit lower. But then you have to figure out why. Does it mean they’re more holistic? No. It means they are a serious sports school and go lower for athletes.</p>
<p>So the answer is none of the top schools is more forgiving of low stats for the unhooked. They all care deeply about they’re rankings which would be tremendously impacted if they were more holistic than the competition.</p>