What SAT score is good enough for Harvard?

[gibby]

If you go through the SAT/ACT scores from the thread T26E4 posted, you will see that students are accepted and REJECTED with basically the same test scores. Why is that? Because test scores are only one part of the process, and when comparing groups of high achieving students, test scores become the least important part of an applicant’s file. Here’s William Fitzsimmons in his own words

Test scores are just one element of our holistic review. They can be helpful when they are particularly high or low but only in concert with high school grades, teacher recommendations, guidance counselor reports, interviews, essays, and all the achievements a student reports on the application.

With 35,000 people applying, you can see that standardized test scores are relatively unimportant in the end, because most of the people who apply have strong scores and grades and are fully qualified to be here. ** So the real question is to try to get beyond the test scores and grades. **Examples of applicants’ accomplishments in math or music, to name just a couple of areas, help us do that. **The people who have the energy, the drive, and commitment to do something unusual **in math, music, athletics, theater, or any activity have transferable sets of skills. It’s human potential that now happens to be directed, say, at women’s rugby, but could also be directed at any other kind of activity during college and later.

As T26E4 said, you need to stop focusing on test scores, as they are just one element of your file.