<p>One day on the SAT should not be substituted for years of work in high school. Unfortunately, it is the only standardized measurement we have, but many studies have shown that it is not always an indicator of future success in college.</p>
<p>Jersey, </p>
<p>so you assume that because I have a 4.0 that I didn’t take a challenging curriculum or that my school has grade inflation? I took no electives, but the ones that were required and worked extremely hard for my GPA like many other students out there. Unfortunately, math is not my best subject and that hurt me on the SAT. The test is not an indicator of intelligence. If a score can be improved by taking a prep course, it does not measure intelligence.</p>
<p>Yes I assume that your school either grade inflates, is a bad school to begin with, or you took an easy curriculum. If you tell me you’ve taken the hardest curriculum possible, I believe you, but that still leaves two options. The SAT is by no means an indicator of intelligence, but your GPA is definitely not an indicator of intelligence either.</p>
<p>SAT wins, I’m afraid! My son had a high GPA and low SAT/ACT. My daughter had a low GPA and a high SAT/ACT. My daughter had much better success with college acceptances. Personally, I feel my son is the better student.</p>
<p>There is a huge pool of kids with high GPAs. </p>
<p>There is a smaller pool of kids with high test scores. </p>
<p>There is an even smaller pool of kids who have both high GPAs and high test scores.</p>
<p>So, it’s best to be in the 3rd group, but if not, then the second group is better.</p>
<p>Even though it’s better to have high test scores, having a sub 3.0 GPA could cancel the benefit of the high score. Similarly, having a high GPA is rather meaningless if the ACT is a 21 (55 percentile)</p>
<p>I guess another question should be…what do consider a low GPA or a low test score to be? (Some think having a GPA 3.5 is “low”)</p>
<p>Go to the Common Data Set for each school. If you are in the bottom 25%ile in grades, test scores or class rank for the last admitted class, you need to have some offsetting attraction for the school to take you-you are a URM, legacy, English is not your first language, you are a recruited athlete, a prize-winning whatever, or have a very compelling life story.</p>
<p>Given two otherwise equal candidates, the admin officers at top LACs say that grades get more weight than SATs or ACTs because the reflect consistent effort (when combined of course with the difficulty of the courseload and the class rank). The usual formula is 50% grades, 25% test scores and 25% other (assuming you aren’t in one of the special categories)-or some similar variation. At large publics, which are more numbers driven because of the sheer volume of applications, I’m not sure your academic record gets that kind of scrutiny.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes and yes. Both SAT scores and GPA matter, and GPA is much more convincing if it comes from a school known to be rigorous with courses that are known to be challenging. The way a low SAT score casts doubt on a high GPA is that challenging high school courses should help a learner develop enough reading, math, and writing ability so that the SAT is not too hard for the test-taker. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>High (2300+) test scores on the SAT are indeed rarer than valedictorian spots around the country, so some students at some high schools can become val without gaining the skills that assure good performance on the SAT.</p>
<p>I believe that the true value of the SAT is often underestimated. Like toledo mentioned earlier, I have observed that cases of people with 4.0 unweighted GPA’s and 1700-1800 SAT scores have generally had less success in college admissions than people with 3.7-3.8 unweighted GPA’s and 2200-2300 SAT scores.</p>
<p>It is quite a feat (at some schools) to get a 4.0 unweighted gpa… but i think the SAT weeds out poor applicants. A high score is not a feat since the SAT is pretty much common (uncommon?) sense. A score of 1700 or lower shows a problem.</p>
<p>GPA
GPA
GPA
I have numerous specific personal situations ALL of which show GPA is king. </p>
<p>A less than perfect SAT (2100-2200) WILL be overlooked with a 4.0 from a good school and a rigorous schedule and great rank. </p>
<p>But a great SAT/ACT (2300-2400, 34-36) means little if you don’t also have a 3.85-4.0 GPA (and the equally important high rank, that further tells the story).</p>
<p>For top colleges-gotta be 3.9-4.0. Gotta be in top handful of students, regardless of size (could go a little lower in a tough prep school), gotta take rigorous course load, gotta have a GOOD standardized test score. </p>
<p>We all know that every accepted applicant doesn’t follow this pattern…but, from what we’ve seen overall on CC…most do. Especially these days as it gets harder and harder to be accepted.</p>
<p>The answer to OP’s question varies considerably depending on the type of school (Public Flagship, Top 50 Private National University, Liberal Arts College).</p>
<p>Public Flagship: 50% GPA, 20% course Rigor, 20% SAT, 5% ECs, 0% letters of Rec, 5% Essay
Top 20 Uni: 20% GPA, 20% course Rigor, 20% SAT, 20% ECs & letters of Rec, 20% Essay
HYPSM: 15% GPA, 25% course Rigor, 20% SAT, 20% ECs & Letters of Rec, 20% Essay
Top LACs: same as HYPSM,</p>
<p>^ That is total ********.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>May I ask where you got these statistics from?</p>
<p>^Thin air.(10char)</p>
<p>^ Lol, you might have a point. There is no set formula to college admissions anywhere. :P</p>
<p>My D has a 32 ACT but a lower GPA 3.4 UW- we are at a very competetive HS -I’ve been told the colleges know the shcools etc… she has taken a few ADV/AP classes but not all of them which is fine with me-I know that there are plenty of schools that she can be admitted to- finding them and finding the scholarship $$ is the ?- she is looking in Southeast area at Rhodes, Furman, Rollins, High Point U , Presbyterian (possibly) and maybe Loyola (NOLA)</p>
<p>You need a top GPA to get into top schools. There are instances where colleges will overlook poor test scores if everything else is extremely strong, but a low GPA rarely is. </p>
<p>That being said, it’s much less an either/or thing than a matter of having both…your SAT score should validate your GPA. </p>
<p>I think a fairly apt comparison is the whole “A lower grade in the AP class or higher in regular?” debate. Adcoms will tell you that ideally you’d have the A in the AP. When you only have one or the other, I think which one a school prefers will vary widely, just as I’ve found most LACs to favor the B in the AP course, lower ranked state schools to favor SATs, and top state schools to favor rigor.</p>
<p>GPA or SAT?</p>
<p>SAT, easily. </p>
<p>Transcript or SAT?</p>
<p>Transcript.</p>
<p>^ That was a very nice answer =). GPA and course rigor combined definitely outweigh SAT. Plus, GPA and course rigor really shouldn’t be talked about separately.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agree wholeheartedly.</p>