<p>Because the SAT's will be the strongest componet of my application package I am wondering which schools place a heavy emphasis on the scores? I know from college fairs and the many books I have read that though schools don't like to admit it, it is a big deal to them because their "clout" and reputation largely depends on the aveage scores of their fresman, their prestige continues to go up when the scores go up so they are very conscious of it..........but I also know some are known more to really pay attention to it and forgive other transgressions than others. Anyone know which schools are well known for this? Thanks!</p>
<p>Big state schools always place more emphasis on numbers. Schools like Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, UMich, and other good state schools will forgive you if you didn't win an olympic medal.</p>
<p>Agree with large state universities. Also, from personal experience we found that Cornell and NU are quite frank in their info sessions that SATs/ACTs are very important.</p>
<p>worth2try- I disagree with what you said. Big state schools are into numbers, but mostly GPA. I have heard of kids getting into UCLA with a 3.9 UW GPA, but a 1700 SAT. Typically, private schools care more about SATs.</p>
<p>ncody,</p>
<p>Everyone knows an anecdote of a friend of a friend of a friend's cousin who got into Harvard with a 3.5, 1850. It is true that big state schools tend to put a greater emphasis on SAT's and GPA's than private schools in general. Although every private school is different, they all tend to be a bit more holistic.</p>
<p>The schools that look least for SAT's would be small, liberal arts or religious schools.</p>
<p>Who knows really. I got rejected from UCLA with near perfect SAT's and GPA.</p>
<p>norcalguy: Are you a california resident? As it is nearly impossible to not make it to top UC's with near perfect SAT's and GPA as those are the two biggest things in UC's equation. </p>
<p>UC admission have been found to be most objective otherwise it is near impossible for schools getting acceptance in the range of 60 to 80 students.</p>
<p>UC recompute GPA on the 4.0 scale and assign value of SAT score on top of it to get a score out of 300.</p>
<p>If you score 4.0 which is not the maximum GPA you can get and SAT1 > 2350, you get 300.</p>
<p>SO I don't know of any candidate with 300 UC score to be denied admission at UCB or UCLA unless there is a negative remark from school.</p>
<p>norcalguy means Northern California I'm guessing.</p>
<p>In that case nocalguy is not telling the full story. I've not heard from the college counslar that if you get good grade and SAT scores that you still won't be able to make it to the top UCs.</p>
<p>Untill it is CS&EE at UC B. which has a different process and is much tougher than the regular UC admissions at UCB.</p>
<p>I don't know how you can arrive at the fact that I'm not telling the full story when you don't know anything about me.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm a CA resident. Yes, I had great GPA (3.98 unweighted from a top public HS). Yes, I had near perfect SAT and SAT II scores (1550, 800, 800, 780). Yes, I had 5's on every AP test I took. No, I did not get into UCLA.</p>
<p>I did get into Berkeley which was my number one choice within the state of California so it's all good but since UCLA decisions came out before other UC decisions, my rejection had me worried for a while.</p>
<p>That is what I said that you are not telling the truth. You did got into UC B.</p>
<p>That means you must have applied to some selective narrow major at UCLA.</p>
<p>So please don't miss guide people. Tell the whole story.
What major did you apply for at UCLA?</p>
<p>A CA resident with GPA (3.98 unweighted from a top public HS) and near perfect SAT and SAT II scores (1550, 800, 800, 780) bound to get into one of UC-B, UC-LA, and UC-SD.</p>
<p>Yes, I applied to the selective narrow major of BIOLOGY. I hear no one applies to that major.</p>
<p>The whole story is that I applied to UCLA as a bio major and I was rejected. What else do you want me to say?</p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope:</p>
<p>"A CA resident with GPA (3.98 unweighted from a top public HS) and near perfect SAT and SAT II scores (1550, 800, 800, 780) bound to get into one of UC-B, UC-LA, and UC-SD."</p>
<p>Not quite. UCSD yeah, but UCB and UCLA have holistic admissions (Berkeley especially), so even that won't guarantee admission. Essays, ECs, awards/honors, etc. all have a strong influence on admission.</p>
<p>Biology is a pretty popular major.</p>
<p>At any rate, large state schools like Berkeley aren't the ones to overlook a weak GPA even if you have a 2380 on the SAT. They tend to stress GPA enormously -- so even with awesome SAT scores, it can be difficult to get in.</p>
<p>Tufts syndrome maybe?</p>
<p>Duke and Caltech</p>
<p>"Who knows really. I got rejected from UCLA with near perfect SAT's and GPA." - norcalguy</p>
<p>"That is what I said that you are not telling the truth. You did got into UC B" - ParentofIvyHope</p>
<p>How was he not telling the truth? He said that he got rejected from UCLA; he never even mentioned UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>The moral of the story is: there is no such thing as a SURE thing when it comes to college admissions! Having certain stats or GPA may increase the probability of a student getting admitted, but until you have that acceptance in hand, you can never be too sure.</p>
<p>Try to look for schools that offer large merit scholarships for National Merit Scholars/ Semi-finalists. They are the ones likely to be desirous of an increase in ranking thorugh high SAT admits. USC, Arizona State, Arizona... thee is a thread somewhere with a list for NMSF. The UC's DEFINITELY value GPA over SAT scores. If you look at the UCSD scoring sheet for applicants, they get many more points for GPA than SAT and I suspect the holistic decisions at UCLA and Cal aren't much different.</p>
<p>well, gosh, POIH, i know of several kids ay my Ds high school with amazing stats who got rejected from UCs, imagine that</p>
<p>It does happen and happens alot in fact</p>