<p>My gpa is 4.2W and 3.98UW
Class rank: 3/224</p>
<p>My SAT scores are
M: 720
Cr: 630
W: 680
Total: 1350/1600 and 2030/2400</p>
<p>I was wondering if my high gpa and class rank make up for my fairly low SAT scores when applying to:</p>
<p>UVA
Northwestern
Duke
Penn</p>
<p>Because your literally at the top of your class, I think you’ll have a shot. Normally no, it doesn’t. For ex) if you were lets say #1 out of 700 kids and you had a 2000 on the sat, they would say your brilliant just not the best test taker. But #3 and is really the same as #1 in their view… .3 difference doesn’t mean anything… Just to make sure though, I would ed penn or duke if they are your first choice.</p>
<p>If the OP is a senior, then it is too late to apply ED.</p>
<p>Well my top choice is UVA and they don’t have ED, so I didn’t ED anywhere. On the bright side, I’m a legacy at Penn, but I don’t know how much that helps for RD.</p>
<p>Well, what it might suggest is that either you’re a bad test taker or your school isn’t very competitive. Yes, it will hurt, but it’s not a dealbreaker. Within reason, neither a poor class rank nor a low SAT score should be, but keep in mind that all of these schools (maybe not as much UVA) are highly selective with their admissions. You are in the bottom 25% for your CR and close to 25% for Writing for the schools listed. </p>
<p>Look at how the individual school prioritizes certain factors. For example, Penn and Northwestern really emphasize rank, while Duke doesn’t.</p>
<p>I go to a non-competitive public school in CT. Usually only the top 5 in the class go to respectable universities. I can’t wait to go to college where other people actually care about their education.</p>
<p>Safeties? Legacy does not count at Penn for RD btw…</p>
<p>Because you said your school isn’t competitive (which the colleges will know as well), your high GPA may not cover for a low SAT. The SAT is the same for all students while GPA’s depend on the rigor of your school. If you have time, maybe retake it?</p>
<p>Really? How will they know if his school isn’t competitive? You assume colleges know how competitive every school is? Class rank doesn’t really correlate totally with SAT scores so you can’t assume oh he did okay on his SAT not great so that means his school isn’t competitive. He could very well be working his butt off to get those grades. Seems like a lot of bad assumptions in this thread.</p>
<p>^High GPA and low SAT usually = non-competitive school. The “bad test taker” excuse is completely blown out of proportion these days. If a student was really a bad test taker, then he/she wouldn’t be able to get high scores on TESTS in school unless they’re extremely easy. Plus, the material on the SAT (especially math) is far easier than most of the stuff taught in school. To add some personal experience, VERY few people in my competitive school who are in the top 20% have anything less than a 2100. On the other hand, only the very best students in my friend’s non-competitive jock school have anything above a 2200 (at least that’s what he says). </p>
<p>Of course, we’ll never be able to tell how competitive someone’s school is just based on stats, but what I’m saying is that high GPA + low SAT usually = non-competitive school, and that’s the case with the OP since he said so.</p>