<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I was wondering what you think the weight of standardized tests is on an application.</p>
<p>My classes and grades are among the highest in my grade (probably top 10, no official ranking), and my extracurriculars keep me busy and I enjoy doing them so much. (a list exists here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1153885-please-help-evaluate-me-some-colleges.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1153885-please-help-evaluate-me-some-colleges.html</a>)</p>
<p>In those two departments, I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing and the best that I can do. My main concern for college lies in the standardized tests (SAT, Subject tests, and ACT) in the application. Most of my friends are doing preparation classes, but I am not. This is making me worried.</p>
<p>Do colleges look at your scores more as a range? Like between 2000 and 2100 is considered "above average" and above 2300 is excellent... Please let me know if colleges look at it more as a "oh good, you scored in/above the range" and then proceed to the rest of your app, or does the number itself (2280 vs 2310 vs 2350 for example) actually matter?</p>
<p>Related questions:</p>
<p>I took the PLAN and scored a 31 (our of 32) with a projected score of 33-35. For the SAT, I want to get above a 2200 (which is the score I got on a practice test the summer before sophomore year). I'm a junior and plan to take the SAT and ACT this fall.</p>
<p>For ivy leagues/stanford and the UCs, what kind of scores would be needed if the other aspects of my application are good?</p>
<p>Also, do PLAN projected scores often forecast ACT scores accurately?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for looking at this.</p>
<p>It really depends on the school. Schools that are obsessed with maintaining and/or increasing their prestige will likely put a lot of weight on standardized test scores.</p>
<p>For the Ivy Leagues, you would need around a score of 2300 to be competitive.
Keep in mind that even people with 2400’s get rejected. This proves that Standardized tests aren’t as important as grades and a rigorous schedule.</p>
<p>Can you rate the importance to these various colleges:</p>
<p>UC system
Harvard
Stanford
Columbia
Cornell
Caltech</p>
<p>And I’m glad that the emphasis is not on standardized test scores. those would not be my “ticket in” so to speak. I just want to see what I would need to not kill my chances.</p>
<p>Also, for the above schools, I am guessing that the “competitive” range is about 2250 or above for all (UC Berkeley and UCLA are rather competitive as well, correct?).</p>
<p>which of the schools I listed do you think are particularly focused on SAT scores?</p>
<p>All of them. By which I mean, they all expect to see a very high SAT score from you. But don’t think that a high SAT score will “make up” for any other flaws you may have in your application. EVERYTHING is important to them.</p>
<p>The single most important factor in college admissions is your high school transcript. Period. Exam scores add very little information. If you have a stellar transcript, don’t panic about the exams. If you aren’t doing exam prep because you can’t afford to pay for a class, then do it on your own. There are lots of useful materials out there. Princeton Review has the best material for strategies. The College Board and ACT both publish books that include old exams that you can use to practice with so that you become comfortable with the types of questions and so that you can review any math formulas that you need to remember. I suggest that you start by reading CC’s own Xiggi on exam prep: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html</a> This method works well for any standardized exam.</p>
<p>Anybody on CC who makes categorical statements about the weight of the various factors at colleges in general is talking through his/her hat.</p>
<p>Different colleges rank different criteria differently. You can find what a college says abhout its relative ranking of factors on the College Board search engine, and many other places as well.</p>
<p>Ok statistically speaking the middle 50% of SAT scores for ivies are between 680-760 in most sections at most of them. So to having 2100+ would put you in the average student range. The higher the score the more desirable of an applicant you are. There are people who make it in with score scores lower than that (25%) but they made up for it some where else in their application.
Sources: Collegeboard</p>