How much do test scores really matter?

[Anonymous]

Because test scores don't matter if you don't have the other pieces of the puzzle.

[Anonymous]

Less and less and less

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once you're in the top 5% or so and you're in the school's pool, the test scores don't make a difference. They want signs that you might make a difference in the world or at least create a desirable community at the school or be great at the one thing you really care about. Schools also need students that fill out their majors and play on their sports teams and make sure they don't all come from the same socio-economic background. Caltech might not care about those things, but every other elite school does. In other words, if you scored 1500, don't waste 500 hours trying to get 1600. Use that time to do something meaningful to you instead.

The Presidential Scholars program starts off by inviting the top 4,000 SAT/ACT scorers, so they leave off the table tens of thousands of equally impressive (if not more impressive) seniors. It's just one (high) honor among many and its timetable comes too late to help in the admissions process.

Very true...and, the reality is, if you can't make a difference even in your own test scores, it is very unlikely you can make a real difference beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Not as much as they used to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not as much as they used to

True... But more than some people think.

[Anonymous]

Grades are so much more important. Great test scores used to open doors. Not today.

[Anonymous]

Not one fucking bit. 35 ACT and 800 math didn't do shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not one fucking bit. 35 ACT and 800 math didn't do shit.

Have you been drinking?

[Anonymous]

Teetotaler, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not one fucking bit. 35 ACT and 800 math didn't do shit.

Have you been drinking?

If not, with scores like that....he should!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Baffled. Why even have tests?

[Anonymous]

We are in the college counseling process now and were told that test scores still matter quite a bit. The counselor told my DS that even 20 points (which would get him over 1500 on the SAT in critical reading and math) could make a difference.

As for grades, DS has a lot of B's in the very toughest classes at his high school but he is being steered towards pretty competitive colleges, grades not-with-standing. The top 20 universities are probably out of the question though, but that would also be the case if he got straight A's in less rigorous classes.

[Anonymous]

All I know is that 2310 and 800 math level 2 opened no doors at any reaches. Hit the books.

[Anonymous]

All I know is that 2310 and 800 math level 2 opened no doors at any reaches. Hit the books.

Did someone lead you to believe it was more important to have good SAT scores than be good in school? You wrote in another thread that your GPA wasn't stellar.

[Anonymous]

Test scores alone won't get you there. On the other hand, if you have everything else and less than average test scores, you aren't going to get there, either.