Is college acceptance all about SAT scores?

[johnandtinagilbert]

A friend of a friend said as much today and I'm wondering your thoughts on this matter. Thank you!

[Muttichen]

It depends on the school. For highly selective schools, where most of the applicants have excellent SAT scores, you need the scores and grades to be considered, but then you need much more to make you stand out from the crowd. You need things like lots of APs, exciting community service, national awards, etc.

 

At other schools that aren't as selective, a great SAT score is all you need to get in.

[In The Great White North]

Some schools have an automatic admit policy, given a certain SAT score. Ds was admitted to Texas A&M based on his SAT score before the rest of his application was even completed.

 

Most schools do look at coursework, GPA, extracurriculars, etc

[Jann in TX]

My dd was admitted to Texas A&M (Corpus Christi) even though she had poor SAT scores (she has had numerous heath issues this year). They accepted her because her dual enrollment GPA for 28 hours was a perfect 4.0 and the rest of her application was in order. She also submitted the first chapter of a novel she is writing.

 

It would have been SO MUCH EASIER if her SAT or ACT scores would have been passable... we were really hoping for scholarships to help with the cost-- but her health issues were a huge stumbling block on that one (she had a medical crisis the week before each test--and even the week before the RETEST!)...luckily we found a Dr who has now stabilized her enough that she can attend college away from home!!!! (Her older sister is living at home while attending college and it is HARD to live with 3 women in one house!)

[Miss Marple]

Good scores are handy to have. But there are schools that don't even require the ACT or SAT. So, no, it's not everything. A year at a local CC can alleviate the need for great SAT scores allowing the student to be a transfer student. High scores can certainly help with scholarships, though.

[LatinTea]

Many colleges we looked at had a minimum of 20 for an ACT (not sure what that translates to in SAT terms, but it very low for an ACT score). I do NOT know of a homeschool family around here that was denied admission to a college of their choice.

 

What I see is that if the wallet is willing, colleges are more than happy to 'work with you'. They profit by having a student enrolled, not by turning them away. ;)

[FloridaLisa]

Most schools oldest ds looked into considered five things (in varying order):

 

GPA

rigor of courses

SAT/ACT score

class rank

extracurricular (included work, sports, clubs, leadership, volunteer, etc.)

 

Throw into this mix: other test scores (AP, AICE, SAT II), legacy status, first generation, cultural/geographic diversity and probably a host of other factors that get consideration.

 

Lisa

[creekland]

It's not everything, but is sure is a major thing, especially for homeschoolers looking to go to 4 year colleges from the beginning.

 

However, it's not just the SAT. I'm finding more higher level colleges seem to prefer the ACT (or the SAT with subject tests).

 

With a few exceptions (like Jann's), the SAT/ACT seems to be a minimum bar to pass, then adcoms look at everything else. The more selective a college is the more everything else then counts (after the minimum is passed). Ditto for the closer a student's scores are to the median or lower end of a school's stats.

[emubird]

Some schools have an automatic admit policy, given a certain SAT score. Ds was admitted to Texas A&M based on his SAT score before the rest of his application was even completed.

 

Most schools do look at coursework, GPA, extracurriculars, etc

 

Some schools have minimum ACT/SAT minimum scores for an automatic admission OR a minimum GPA, even if the test scores aren't so great.

 

And even if a student doesn't make the "automatically get in" cutoff, the schools still consider (and admit) many, many students who didn't get in automatically.

 

I don't know how common this is. The college where I work has these minimum ACT scores (or GPA) that result in an automatic admission, but they never speak of it outside the school. Many of the faculty aren't even aware of it.

[Brilliant]

Some schools have minimum ACT/SAT minimum scores for an automatic admission OR a minimum GPA, even if the test scores aren't so great.

 

And even if a student doesn't make the "automatically get in" cutoff, the schools still consider (and admit) many, many students who didn't get in automatically.

 

 

I just finished reading Elizabeth Wissner-Gross's 2 books, What High Schools Won't Tell You and What Colleges Won't Tell You. She says the 2 most important things are GPA and scores. All the rest (the "packaging" she recommends) is icing on the cake, but the colleges won't even look at you if you don't have their minimum SAT & GPA.

 

She gives the example of colleges who say they are holistic in their evaluation of candidates, but they still use buckets to look at them. First they'll look at all the candidates with >1500, then they'll move down to >1400, etc. etc., reviewing the applications until the class is filled. So if your student has an 1190 - even if the college says they don't have a minimum cut-off - the class might be filled before the college gets to the 1100 bucket.