<p>Having a good gpa + outstanding essays + outstanding teacher recs + outstanding ECs or having a good SAT score (+2200)</p>
<p>better question...why wouldn't you have ALL the above?</p>
<p>I agree with APOL.
But to answer your question, it depends on the school. Some schools put next to no emphasis on the SATs because they know its completely stupid. Others put more emphasis. I would say in general, the first does.</p>
<p>I would say the first one. My friend never broke a 1200 (old SAT) and still got into TCNJ, SUNY Binghamton... but she did have a good GPA, top 10%, and was involved in everything. So yeah- definitely the first one.</p>
<p>Your transcript is the most important factor in the college admissions process. If you combine the transcript with essays, rec's, and EC's you have a significantly more important chunk of the application than a test score.</p>
<p>For elite colleges (Ivy-calibur), you'd probably need both #1 and #2.</p>
<p>But to answer your question, in general, I would say #1.</p>