My guidance counselor told me that it looks worse to colleges if you have a high SAT and a low GPA compared to if you have an avg SAT and avg GPA. We’re saying like 3.4 and 1400 compared to 3.6-1200. Is this true?
<p>A 3.4 and a 1600 looks like you are very smart but very lazy.
A 3.9 and a 1200 looks like you are intelligent and very motivated.</p>
<p>I'd always take the smart and a little lazy. HS is a joke anyway. College often lets the smart and lazy person find some challenges.</p>
<p>The best predictor of college grades is high school grades. That's why most colleges prefer students with high grades and low SATs to students with high SATs, low grades.</p>
<p>somebody told me [he's in college] that if i can't get a good SAT score no matter how high my GPA is, i can never get into a good school</p>
<p>Keita,
That's not necessarily true. It also depends on what one considers a "good school" and a "good SAT score."</p>
<p>Also, there are schools widely regarded as good such as Bowdoin and Mount Holyoke that are SAT optional.</p>
<p>but wouldnt colleges view a person with a high sat and a low GPA as a slacker and not prefer them over someone with a mid sat and mid gpa, who they might consider a hard worker?</p>
<p>colleges could also view high sat/low grades combo as rigorous coursework/strict teachers and high grades/low sats combo as inflation.</p>
<p>^
that's where class rank comes into play.</p>
<p>"A 3.9 and a 1200 looks like you are intelligent and very motivated."</p>
<p>Compared to who you're competing against, it really doesn't look like you're overly intelligent, and it's hard to determine if you are motivated or not.</p>