How important does SAT play a role in admission process? I was told that no matter what you do (excellent grades, top rank, solid ECs), you will still get rejected with low SAT. Is that true, especially for HYPS? I don’t think it is fair to rely so much on SAT score because smart students do not score well on standardized tests and slackers score extremely well on them.
<p>sadly, SATs do matter, quite a bit. People don’t want them to matter, and they know they shouldn’t matter, but 99.9% of the time, SATs will be weighted heavily in the context of the rest of your application. I actually think that standardized tests are good, and I can’t imagine how unfair the system would be withou them – it’s unfair to compare an A that someone got from a rigorous prep school to the A someone got from a grade inflated school.</p>
<p>To answer your first question, the SAT plays an enormous role in the admission process, second to probably only gpa/class rank. And though it’s not set in stone, you will be rejected from hyps if your SAT score is lower than 1400. Of course, there are special conditions (URM, athlete, legacy, etc).</p>
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<p>In that case, then the “smart” people need to learn how to take a standardized test, and the “slackers” are indeed smart. =D</p>
<p>What is the acceptable SAT score for URM, athlete and legacy (who want to go to HYPS)?</p>
<p>1350+ for URMs
unless there are some MAJOR mitigating factors.
1300+ for athletes
1350+ for legacies
(this is a rough estimate based on my observations)</p>
<p>A slacker with high SATs is also out of luck. They HYP calibre schools want both high grades and high scores. A much wanted recruited athlete has the easiest time and can have a score a few hundred points below average (1200ish at HYP), a URM probably needs closer to 1350 to be really competitive at those schools and legacies who are not major donors are, as a group, at those schools averages (high 1400s).</p>
<p>look at the chart on Page 2 of the following link, I hope it answers all of your questions:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nacac.com/downloads/ch4_fia.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nacac.com/downloads/ch4_fia.pdf</a></p>
<p>TTG</p>
<p>“To answer your first question, the SAT plays an enormous role in the admission process, second to probably only gpa/class rank.”</p>
<p>I disagree. In terms of importance, SAT scores are second to none. They’re not the only thing, but they are the most important thing.</p>
<p>A high SAT score will not assure you of admission to highly selective schools. But a low score could kill you. One example at our high school. Very high GPA with 1200 SATs (old test)–kid did not get into the top UCs (Berkeley and UCLA).</p>
<p>I doubt those w/ a 1350 that are legacy are near shoo-ins at HYP. UNLESS the alumnus is a big donor…then, things change dramatically.</p>
<p>“smart students do not score well on standardized tests and slackers score extremely well on them.”</p>
<p>Not really
I think you’re defining ‘smart’ students as overachievers
“Smart” students do well in school AND generally do well on tests</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>A couple guys on my football team received letters from Harvard. They said: “We look for student athletes who received at least 1100 on the SAT.”</p>
<p>“I doubt those w/ a 1350 that are legacy are near shoo-ins at HYP. UNLESS the alumnus is a big donor…then, things change dramatically.”</p>
<p>I have heard of legacy URMs who didn’t get into schools like HPY with such scores.</p>
<p>It looks like this thread is going to keep on becoming a thread about “i heard’s” and he said- she said this and that. To answer the original poster’s question I dropped in a link earlier. It was NACAC’s report on the factors in the college admissions process. Here’s how they rated:</p>
<p>(the percentages represent factors rated as of “considerable importance”)</p>
<p>Grades in College Prep Courses- 80.3%
Standardized Admissions Tests- 60.3%
Grades in All Courses- 56.9%
Class Rank- 28.2%
Essay or writing sample- 25.2%
Counselor Recommendation- 18.4%
Teacher Recommendation- 18.1%
Interview- 8.7%
Work/Extracurricular Activities- 7.5%
Student’s Demonstrated Interest- 6.9%
State Graduation Exam Scores- 6.4%
Subject Tests (Sat II, AP, IB)- 4.9%</p>
<p>We can sit here all day and talk about the one kid who got into Harvard with the low SAT score, or the kid with this and that, but we fail to consider the student’s application- in fact, no one knows what his personal circumstances were (besides being a football player, alumni, etc) or what his essays were about, but we’ve judged him solely by his numbers. Or even the “smart kid” with high scores and low GPA, or the hardworking kid with the low scores and high GPA- every college views students on a case-by-case basis.</p>
<p>The numbers above represent the state of admissions, today. Granted, some schools higher certain factors higher than others and this is not represented by the chart. For further information on what a particular school that you are looking at factors the most, go to <a href=“http://www.princetonreview.com%5B/url%5D”>www.princetonreview.com</a> and look up your school, then under “admissions factors” and this will help you out tremendously. Best of luck,</p>
<p>TTG</p>
<p>bige, look at the chart. gpa/class rank is more important than sats.</p>
<p>Common wisdom on CC seems to put the floor for HYPS SAT’s at 1400 old/2100 new. What about ACT’s?</p>
<p>Some schools like Holy Cross and Bowdoin-both very good LAC’s don’t require SAT’s.</p>
<p>i’m sorry…what does URM mean?</p>
<p>under represented minority (ie hispanics, african americans, etc.)</p>
<p>“bige, look at the chart. gpa/class rank is more important than sats.”</p>
<p>gxing, that chart is very deceiving. It polled all colleges, not just HYP or even the ivies or even the second tier. ALL colleges that aren’t community colleges. Are you really gonna sit there and tell me that SAT II scores count for only 4% because the chart said so?</p>