Will the SAT outweigh a low GPA?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>I have 3.5 GPA unweighted (5.5 weighted) with my junior and senior year full of dual-enrollment classes and I will most likely be graduating from high school with my AA. I don't have much extra curricular activities or hours, but I can improve them over the summer. My question is, if I score a 2250+ (all I need to do is improve my CR) on the October SAT, should I even consider applying to Ivy's? I slacked off a bit in freshman year.</p>

<p>I don't mind if you guys say I have no chance, I just want any advice on what approach should I take if I want to apply to top Universities. More importantly, will a high SAT score make my chances at getting in better? What EC's will make me look better to get into Universities? Any criticism is accepted as long as it's constructive.... I'm not necessarily applying to Ivies, just any top universities. Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Honestly, It will be a stretch for Ivies, but you have a great shot at many other top universities. </p>

<p>Also, GPA varies between schools - So I don’t know how much that may come into play</p>

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<p>Okay thanks… I’ll think about which approach to take. I’m a minority, will that have any effect when it comes to being accepted to universities? I’m just asking because I’m guessing they want diversity.</p>

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<p>Your GPA is not low.</p>

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<p>Simple answer: no.</p>

<p>Long answer: Your low GPA will be looked at while being compared to your school averages and ranking. If your school is harder than most, admissions officers SHOULD be able to recognize it. However, if you’re just lazy, then you might need a bit of luck. SAT is easier for colleges to compare simply because it is a STANDARDIZED Test. Hence, the lone number of your SAT score will probably outweigh your numerical GPA. However, course rigor and individual class grades will be looked at closely, and that will probably more important than your GPA. Am I making any sense? Taking Dual Enrollment classes to raise your GPA is smart, but don’t overdo it. As in, don’t take stupid, pointless classes as a simple GPA boost. If you score 2250+ and manage to get your GPA to 3.6, you should be looking at colleges such as Cornell, Rice, WashU, etc… That is, depending on your extracurriculars as well as your essay. There’s no extracurriculars that I can really recommend to help you get into college. Try to do stuff that you’re passionate about is the only advice I can give, as cliche as it may be. Just be consistent in your interests. </p>

<p>Good luck. And remember that there is no surefire way to get into the top colleges you want. But you definitely have a chance.</p>

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<p>Simple answer: no, a high SAT won’t erase a so-so GPA. I agree with that.</p>

<p>Additionally, if you’re talking about Ivies and their peers, you have two related problems: even 2250 isn’t a particularly high SAT score, and in a way, there’s really no such thing as a high SAT score, because such a huge fraction of the applicant pool have scores between 2250 and the maximum score of 2400.</p>

<p>Even with 2250 and 3.6, I think you should consider schools such as Rice, Cornell and WUStL reach-y. Not out of reach, perhaps, but reach-y. They’re very selective. They could fill their freshman classes with applicants whose GPAs are higher than yours, so you’d need to give them a good reason for choosing you over someone who didn’t get off to a slow start (relative to most of the rest of that competitive applicant pool) in high school.</p>

<p>I absolutely agree, however, that selective colleges and universities will look not just at your GPA, but at your whole high school transcript (and community college transcript, if you have one to submit), taking note of both the classes you took and the grades you earned in them, and using your school profile, teacher recommendations and Secondary School Report to provide context for your transcript. The deans of admissions at selective universities and colleges seem to agree that an applicant’s transcript is the single most important element of his or her file–more important than standardized test scores.</p>

<p>Finally, about extracurricular activities: I think trying to find extracurricular activities to make up for a less-than-impressive GPA is a fool’s errand. Pretty much the only extracurricular activities that can make up for sub-par grades are sacking quarterbacks, dunking a basketball with both hands, and funding the construction of a new wing for the library. Unless you’re a recruited athlete, extracurricular activities are the way colleges break ties among applicants with comparable academic credentials; they don’t generally get one applicant in over another one who’s better qualified academically. If grades are the area of relative weakness in your profile so far, you need to focus on getting better grades in the next 3 semesters.</p>

<p>Speaking of which, you might consider not applying Early Action or Early Decision. If you are bringing your grades up in an impressive manner, you’ll do better showing admissions committees 3 semesters of new, improved grades, rather than just 2.</p>

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<p>Thanks guys! The reason I take a lot of Dual Enrollment classes is because I go to School for Advanced Studies (It’s the 6th in the nation) and 2-4 AP classes with 3-6 College classes (including labs) are usually mandatory. I take some pretty tough college classes I would say, such as Anatomy w/ labs and General Chem w/ lab. So I hope the deans of admissions take that into account. In my community college I should have a 3.7-3.8 GPA by December of this year assuming I get all A’s in my college classes. I’m looking at majoring in Biology or Chemistry on a Pre-med track… Any recommendations on top universities I should be looking at based on where I stand? All these schools are reach schools… so my world won’t end if I don’t get accepted.</p>

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<p>If you go to a fancy-pants high school like that, you should be able to get much better advice about target colleges for a student like you from the guidance department at your school than you can from strangers online who really don’t know you or your high school.</p>

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<p>If you can get a 2250+ then yes, it does make up for it, to some extent, though it doesn’t erase it, so colleges still won’t look at your GPA too nicely. Colleges want SAT and GPA to be consistent, but the SAT is indeed the best deciding factor because it’s an equal measurement for everyone, though not a good one. I don’t like to admit this but it’s true. Standardized testing really needs to change, because right now, it’s fair measurement, yet it measure absolutely nothing. </p>

<p>Here’s the breakdown of what colleges think</p>

<p>High SAT, high GPA: Good</p>

<p>High SAT, Low GPA: Your high school classes are likely very difficult, but you seem to have learned well based on your high SAT. Which is probably your case since your weighted GPA is so high</p>

<p>Low SAT, High GPA: Your high school classes are too easy, thus your skills are unrefined, resulting in bad SAT scores.</p>

<p>Of course, even a “low” GPA can’t be too low. A 3.5 is about as “low” as it can get if you’re applying for an Ivy. Plus, in high school, weighted GPA is important too, and considering you have a 5.5, that’s great.</p>

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<p>A 2250 not a high score?</p>

<p>Well that’s only on CC. Because there are many trolls here. No offense, but 2250 doesn’t seem to be high because of the score range provided by colleges. A 2100-2200 range may has a total applicant pool of 5 times applicants compared to applicants in 2300-2400 score range.</p>

<p>As for OP, a low GPA isn’t going to be replaced by a high SAT score. But no one here can say what applies to you. If your school works with a harsh grading system, then it will. If school doesn’t , then you’ll need a damn luck to get into ivies. There are people out there who got into these places with 3.5. But it’s very hard to get into.</p>

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<p>Not exactly what I said. It’s not a “high score” at “top universities” such as kevin12883 was asking about. You can’t earn an SAT score so high that it will really make the people at Stanford or MIT or Williams sit up and take notice of you. At those institutions and their peers, a well balanced SAT score of 2250 or above keeps you in the running, but it doesn’t confer any kind of advantage.</p>

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<p>I think a great essay will outweigh good EC’s, mostly because most schools don’t want to spend a lot of time substantiating EC’s and most applications have EC’ puffery. Not lying just puffing. But if the EC is truly great-Olympic athlete, or well known actor, etc. Then the EC will be very important and overcome a less than stellar GPA. GL</p>

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<p>What matters more than GPA in a sense is your class rank. If you’re still top 5%/10% with 3.5 GPA then it’s still worth a shot, but if you’re not top 10% (even at top high school) your shot at ivies is quite slim. There are still plenty of other great schools though. As it is, a 2250+ for ivies just keeps you in the running (not a boost) so a low GPA is enough to sink you. Don’t get too discouraged though, you’ll find a great school. Good luck!</p>