Do colleges track perfect scores?

[fluffybear]

I read online that students with perfect SAT/ACT scores get a 20-35% chance of acceptance at schools that usually have an acceptance rate <10%. Are the percentages really that significant? If not, is there still some truth in this-- perfect scorers have a slight advantage? Do top colleges really track perfect scores?

I know the whole application package is important (ECs, essay, recs, etc.), but I’m just curious as to whether there’s actually a slight statistical advantage in being a perfect scorer.

[Data10]

I read online that students with perfect SAT/ACT scores get a 20-35% chance of acceptance at schools that usually have an acceptance rate <10%.

Note that much of the increased rate of admission is likely due to correlation rather than causation. For example, compared to the typical applicant, perfect SAT/ACT applicants are more likely to have top grades with a more rigorous courseload, top LORs, impressive on a national level academic awards/ECs, etc. Even if test scores were not considered in the application process, perfect SAT/ACT applicants would have a notably greater rate of admission that the average applicant.

That said, I expect you know that many colleges track and report perfect scores in their admission stats. How they treat them is a different story, and likely varies by college. MIT’s website has a more eloquent explanation:

Now, I and others are on the record as saying that we admit people, not test scores, and that in any case there is really not a difference in our process between someone who scores, say, a 740 on the SAT math, and someone who scores an 800 on the SAT math. So why, as the commentor asks, is there such a difference in the admit rate? Aha! Clearly we DO prefer higher SAT scores!

Well no, we don’t. What we prefer are things which may coincide with higher SAT scores. For example, a student who receives a gold medal at the IMO is probably more likely to score an 800 on the math SAT than a 740. But if we take an IMO medalist (with an 800) over random applicant X (with a 740), does that mean we preferred an 800 to a 740? No. It means we preferred the IMO medalist, who also happened to get an 800!