Which selective colleges/ivies care more about SAT?

Applying to College
1

<p>My SAT is 2350, but my cumulative GPA is only 3.84W (3.63UW, but my school reports the weighted) due to very low 9th grade grades and some low 10th grade grades (PE and health class, namely). However, my 11th grade grades are all As or A+s, with IB courses.</p>

<p>Does anyone know which schools value SAT the most, or those that look at GPA the least?IMO, there is so much variation among schools, teachers and courses for GPA that it has little value.But I know I'm biased.</p>

2

<p>UCB doesn’t look at freshman grades
(How do you do bad in PE?)</p>

3

<p>It is generally thought that, for an unhooked applicant to one of the super-selective colleges, all of high school course rigor, GPA, class rank, and test scores have to be near maximum to make the first cut (and then compete against other similar near maximum stats applicants on the basis of essays, extracurriculars, etc.).</p>

4

<p>Which selective colleges/ivies care more about SAT?
USC</p>

5

<p>Been there, done that man. Also have like a 3.6 uw but a 2300+ SAT. Apply to a lot of big, prestigious universities. UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC, CMU, Michigan, etc. The smaller/medium sized schools will be less willing to take a chance on you. Of course, you may get lucky on one of them but the odds are slim. </p>

<p>So in essence, apply to a nice spread of schools with a decent amount of prestigious big schools like the above mentioned. Maybe throw in some good fits for medium/small (FIT is super important if you’re trying to get in with your stats… never underestimate fit) and def some safeties. That was my strategy and I got into several awesome big name schools (UCs, USC etc) and a smaller school that is perfect for me. </p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

6

<p>Vanderbilt tends to care less about GPA.</p>

7

<p>Thanks guys for the tips! I am a much stronger student now than I was in 9th or 10th grade, so I know that I will work hard wherever I go (:</p>

8

<p>cc2468, did you take the PSAT AND score above your states minimum for NMSF finalist status? If so, be SURE to get fill out the forms from your HS counselor in Oct and write the essay necessary to advance you to NMF status. Being one of 15000 NMF’s will help your chances at schools just below the top 20 level, and cant hurt at any college you apply to. In addition , being a NMF means you can count on lots of free tuition scholarships at lots of colleges eager to enroll top scoring students. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid-72.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid-72.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>you’ll have to check out individual colleges for the latest info, as some of these listings are out of date.</p>

9

<p>What is your class rank or estimated percentile?</p>

10

<p>When seeking to determine which admissions factors a college weighs more heavily, you should start by looking at that school’s Common Data Set (just Google “college X common data set”). </p>

<p>Section C7 of the CDS shows you how the school weighs 20 academic and non-academic factors in admissions, ranking them as not “considered, considered, important or very important”.</p>

<p>Most highly selective schools will weigh GPA, course rigor, and standardized test scores as “very important”, but you’d be surprised what you find in some schools data.</p>

11

<p>menloparkmom,
No, I did not. I took the PSAT, but I didn’t study for it so I didn’t do as well as my SAT. I didn’t know about scholarships-most students at my school just took it in 10th grade as a “practice” SAT.</p>

12

<p>dukedad,
wow, common data sets are very telling. Thanks for the tip!</p>