<p>About this “SAT is the least important” claim:</p>
<p>1) I think this may be true once a student has crossed a certain pretty high threshold. In other words, when comparing two applicants, one of whom has a 2390 SAT and the other has a 2310 SAT, the adcoms will likely disregard the differences in their SAT scores completely when making their final evaluations. All other things being equal, if the 2310 student had a stellar interview and the 2390 was not too impressive, the interview may well matter more than the 80 point difference in their SATs.</p>
<p>2) This public posture may be driven by a desire to discourage applicants from taking the exam multiple times beyond a certain point. For example, my D has a friend who is a senior who got a single sitting 2340 score in March of junior year. This friend is planning to retake the exam. Bad idea. It would help this person to attend such an info session.</p>