<p>^ Because “regular classes” doesn’t mean the same thing at any two US high schools. Why should people who perform poorly on a standardized reasoning test be accepted to great schools?</p>
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<p>Not that it matters, but it does.</p>
<p>[Instructions</a> for Reporting Your Scores | Application to Yale College | Freshmen | Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/application/score_reporting.html]Instructions”>http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/application/score_reporting.html)</p>
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<p>alexcuad clearly meant classes taken in school, and the “regular” wasn’t in reference to types of classes (AP, honors, etc.). Most colleges keep profiles on high schools that send them a high volume of applicants. They understand what the grades attained by students at those high schools actually mean (a 4.0 at high school A is certainly not the same thing as a 4.0 at high school B) and they evaluate applications accordingly. A transcript will always, always outweigh an SAT score.</p>
<p>I believe that what one accomplishes throughout a semester or a year is much more meaninful than what they can do on a single sitting.</p>
<p>^^ My mistake. I meant that Yale does not allow score-choice. Thanks for pointing it out.</p>
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You can’t assess how meaningful a semester or year in any given school is without understanding everything about the school curriculum/environment. Standardized tests are standardized for a reason, they are the best way to compare students from different schools.</p>
<p>So does that mean that they do not care about, say a 25 in Reading ACT, if on a subsequent test you got a 33?</p>
<p>^ Only an admissions officer can tell you how much they will “care about” your previous score, but they certainly consider your highest one first as shown by rockermcr’s post.</p>
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<p>Colleges keep profiles on schools who regularly send them applicants.</p>
<p>^ I was referring to alexcuad, not an admissions officer.</p>
<p>My school, for example, is not bad at all, but the best school a student has ever gotten to (in any relevant history) is Duke. It is not that the school is bad, yet that most students have the plan of going to a community college or the large state school embedded in their brains. How does this affect an Ivy-hopeful?</p>
<p>Does your school offer the IB or any APs?</p>
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Where past students matriculate is usually a pretty accurate indicator of a school’s academic strength.</p>
<p>@alexcuad I know that the transcript is a pretty meaningful indicator but there are always external factors that can sway it. For example, Teacher X this year was pretty difficult with my class, giving us test questions from the actual AP. Teacher Y was very, very lax–giving his students open-book assignments and the like. Nobody in Teacher X’s class has an A. Several people in Teacher Y’s class have A+s.</p>
<p>Little things like this are never factored in, but they can have a bigger impact than you think.</p>
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<p>When I was starting my admissions process, someone gave me some great perspective on that question. There are two types of high schools that applicants will come from:</p>
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<li>The ones they’ve heard of</li>
<li>The ones they haven’t heard of</li>
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<p>Beyond that, there’s no real impact from the school you go to with a few rare exceptions (the very best “feeder” schools).</p>
<p>Why are standardized tests so important? Because at some schools, even a below-average student could pull a 4.0 if he or she studied hard enough. For those schools they haven’t heard of, the high standardized test scores lend credence to a student’s GPA.</p>
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<p>I think what you’re saying is valid, except when you add the “if he or she studied hard enough,” because that tends to apply to most schools. If you work hard enough for your grades, you’ll get them.</p>
<p>Actually my school has full IB DP as well as certain AP courses.</p>
<p>^ How do students typically do with IB? What total score (out of 45) do they tend to get? How about on APs (out of 5)?</p>
<p>I’ve got an average of ~95% at a level which is comparable to IB. So I guess I’d have a ~43/45.</p>
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Comparable to IB according to whom? Does your school offer IB, AP, both or neither?</p>
<p>I’m in the Netherlands, and there every class is on the same level. So you’ve got the ‘VWO’, where all classes are at IB-level (according to several universities).</p>
<p>^ I don’t doubt that. School in Europe is a lot tougher than it is in America. I’m sure that admissions officers who are in charge of Europe will be at least somewhat familiar with your school system. Make sure you have extra-curricular activities to supplement your excellent grades. Best of luck to you. :)</p>