What I mean is what are the biggest deciding factor on getting into colleges, percentage wise (like sat 20%, recommendation 25%, essay, 30%, etc but actual data). As I recently got my Sat scores back and got 40 more points from 1170 to 1210, but got 20 points less in reading and writing than the spring test, and got 60 more points in the math section. I really thought I would’ve done better and I’m feeling stressed because of the score and made me think how important is the sat really compared with other parts of the college application. Thank you.
It varies from school to school. Look at schools’ Common Data Set, section C, for starters.
It depends on the college. There isn’t one formula for everywhere and everyone. You can search for the name of the college, plus “common data set” and in that report you’ll find out what factors are more and less important to that college, although not in percentage format.
If it is all about your SAT scores to you, look for colleges that say they “super score” those numbers. In other words, they take your best reading score and add it to your best math score, and that is the score upon which the school will evaluate you. Or else apply to test optional schools.
92% money
6% grades
3% test scores
<1% LOR
<1% EC’s
For most colleges: GPA, course rigor and SAT/ACT test scores rule the day.
As others have said, this will depend upon which schools you are considering.
If you grades are good and your references say that you are a reasonable person and a serious student, then you can get accepted to some good universities even if your SAT and ECs are not as good. If you want to get into the very most selective universities in the world (which I suppose are Harvard and Stanford), then you need to be very strong in every aspect of your application.
You might want to give us more information regarding what your grades are, what your budget is, what state you are from, and what sort of schools you might be considering.
@Eeyore123 might be exaggerating a bit, but budget and grades are pretty much the key in this game.
I forget which college we were visiting but an admissions officer asked himself this question: if the office was on fire and he could only grab one piece of paper from every application and use that to make admissions decisions what would he grab? His answer was this: Transcripts! They gave the best picture of the student over time (increase/decrease in rigor, increase/decrease in grades).
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2131779-what-colleges-use-in-admissions-according-to-cds-listings.html may help you for colleges in general.
But each college needs to looked individually for its specific policies.
This saved me from looking up the URL and giving the exact same answer.
(Though I wish each table was sorted by either the first or last column, so they were in order of importance. Don’t assume the first item is most important, next is second, etc.)
Just be aware that the CDS is no formula. The higher the tier, the more every bit matters. You cannot assume you can flub one section and some other will make up for it. The competition is too fierce.
@Groundwork2022 raises an important point for you. A school that superscores will not consider you a 1210, you will get credited for your highest math score and your highest language score, even if on different dates. Also, if your transcript, ECs, etc. are very strong, you can consider looking at test-optional schools.
@Eeyore123 said
I am puzzled by what you intend to say to the OP. On the face, this response is unhelpful and absurd (and the math needs some work.)
@pickpocket The most important reason by far, to have the ability to enroll in a college, is money. It is also the main reason why people drop out of college. Of the ~3,400 Colleges and Universities in the U.S., there are only a handful that everyone needs no money (Deep Springs). If you have the money, the next criteria is grades. I don’t know the exact number, but I believe it is well into the majority of colleges only require a transcript in addition to the application. The next filter is standardized test scores. For places like the University of Alabama, all you need is money, grads and test scores. They are in the top 10% of the 3,400 colleges. Out of the ~15mm students that graduate high school every year, only a very few do thing like EC’s matter when discussing college. However, it occupies 53.74% of the discussion on this site.
(The math purposefully didn’t add to 100%. I didn’t want to imply precision)
This is the wrong question. There are, literally, hundreds of excellent college out there, with different requirements and different offerings. You can “get in” to a few hundred of these colleges.
Your question stems from the incorrect assumption that a graduating high school student “should” try to be accepted to the highest ranked college that is possible, based on the student’s GPA and standardized scores, with the “rank” being that which is bestowed by USNews, Niche, or some other business entity.
You should be looking to find the college which best suits who you are as a student and as a person. Find a college which fits you, and stop trying to figure out how to make yourself over to better fit a college which you choose because it is highly ranked.
As for how the more popular colleges cull the thousands of hopeful kids who apply - it depends of the type of college, the specific college, and often, the admissions people themselves. That is why colleges publish their Common Data Sets.
Agree with you here, but that is not the question the OP asked, which was what was most important in getting admitted. Of course, getting admitted to a college that is too expensive is useless.
Thank you, I will check this out
Common Data Set:
The first thing you need to do is google " Common Data Set" and
then look in Section C7: Relative importance of each of the following academic and nonacademic factors in first-time, firstyear,degree-seeking (freshman) admission decisions.
Then look at the different categories:
Is it Very Important, Important, Considered, or Not Considered?
Big State schools may only “consider” ECs because they mostly use GPA/SAT/ACT because of the sheer number of applicants. Private schools have holistic admissions and may think it “very important”.
Ivy League’s, e.g. Yale, may not consider your interest or only “consider” it because they think "of course you want to come here. It is often the private schools that give it more weight.