SAT vs. GPA

anotherparent
Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:38:28 +0000

The schools have info about each (HS) degree granting school in the country, so they know the demographics, the average grades, the sort of course work that is offered, etc. They can get a feeling if your work is good, and if you took the hardest path.

This info came to me from the MIT information session in our city. The Adcom asked who thought the applicants were compared to each other, and about half the people raised their hand. Then he asked people to stand up if what he said about their schooling was true. He asked about public, private, charter, homeschooling. Then he asked about size. Then he asked about the number of AP offerings. People were bouncing up and down. At the end he asked how could MIT compare each kid to the others.

He also said that you could consider your application as a table. If one leg was shakey the table might still stand - so the legs were grades, scores, ecs/awards, application. He also implied that a mediocre SAT score would not blemish an otherwise student.

OTOH, mediocre grades (I am not sure what this means, possibly less than 3.0 or even 3.5 depending on the school) shows a student who doesnt like to actually do the work that is necessary. This might work in High School, but not in a tough college.