What do colleges look at?

<p>Let's say I get 800 M and 600 CR. Do they pay more attention to the 1400(what most top colleges want at minimum), or the fact that you had a 600 in CR? I had a 670 M in January(expecting 670-690 for June), and was wondering that would a higher math score compensate for a lower CR score? A 670 is already good enough for the colleges I'm looking at, but whether my combined CR and Math score will be enough is the question that I'm wondering when I see my scores on the 26th.</p>

<p>Individual matters more. It looks bad, almost lopsided, if you do poorly on a section.</p>

<p>ya ^ its probably better to get 700 on 2 sections than to get 800 on one and 600 on another.</p>

<p>I say it depends on the college, adcom, and your overall profile. You'll see mixed results for people applying with 800+600 vs 700+700. There are a lot of other factors in admissions outside of SAT scores, so don't worry too much.</p>

<p>Generally colleges prefer solid scores in all sections over lopsided scores (a 2250 is more preferable if 750, 750 ,750 than 800 650 800). This is because colleges publish their middle 50 percent of both math and reading (some writing), and they want both to be solid.</p>

<p>I understand now, so I don't need to worry too much about the combined score. Just curious though, would you guys take a (M,CR,W in that order) 800,800,500 or a 700,700,700?</p>

<p>700, 700, 700</p>

<p>700, 700, 700</p>

<p>700, 700, 700. colleges love well rounded students. if you're uneven like 800/800/500, it won't look as good.</p>

<p>I'd take the triple 700s.</p>

<p>for SAT Subject tests, how do they look at the scores? i got 740 on math and bio, but those are 76 and 84 percentiles (respectively). pretty poor...but considering that it's more competitive, how do colleges look at those scores? how much do percentiles matter?</p>