How much do test scores really matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My two cents is that Presidential Scholar and NMSF are nice little honors, but in no way determinative in college admissions. Kids who get those honors did something right. Some are super bright, some go to great schools, some prep diligently. Good for them. But top scores are only part of the picture. I don't think colleges especially reward perfection. They want interesting kids with great grades and scores, but the stats don't have to be perfect. A highly involved, passionate kid with a couple Bs and a 2300 would generally be more prized than a straight A 2400 SAT kid who studied all the time. Colleges want students who contribute in meaningful ways to the school community. Kids who want to be successful ion college admissions should show that they've done that in high school.

This.

You should have the whole package -scores and EC and grades -- if you want to go to an Ivy or other highly ranked school. And even then, there is a little luck involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents is that Presidential Scholar and NMSF are nice little honors, but in no way determinative in college admissions. Kids who get those honors did something right. Some are super bright, some go to great schools, some prep diligently. Good for them. But top scores are only part of the picture. I don't think colleges especially reward perfection. They want interesting kids with great grades and scores, but the stats don't have to be perfect. A highly involved, passionate kid with a couple Bs and a 2300 would generally be more prized than a straight A 2400 SAT kid who studied all the time. Colleges want students who contribute in meaningful ways to the school community. Kids who want to be successful ion college admissions should show that they've done that in high school.

This.

You should have the whole package -scores and EC and grades -- if you want to go to an Ivy or other highly ranked school. And even then, there is a little luck involved.

Also agree. This has been my experience in observing the peer group of my children.

[Anonymous]

Very little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents is that Presidential Scholar and NMSF are nice little honors, but in no way determinative in college admissions. Kids who get those honors did something right. Some are super bright, some go to great schools, some prep diligently. Good for them. But top scores are only part of the picture. I don't think colleges especially reward perfection. They want interesting kids with great grades and scores, but the stats don't have to be perfect. A highly involved, passionate kid with a couple Bs and a 2300 would generally be more prized than a straight A 2400 SAT kid who studied all the time. Colleges want students who contribute in meaningful ways to the school community. Kids who want to be successful ion college admissions should show that they've done that in high school.

This.

You should have the whole package -scores and EC and grades -- if you want to go to an Ivy or other highly ranked school. And even then, there is a little luck involved.

I agree. Stanford explicitly states on their admissions website what they are looking for.

From http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/prepare.html :

"We want to be clear that this is not a case of "whoever has the most APs wins." Instead, we look for thoughtful, eager and highly engaged students who will make a difference at Stanford and in the world beyond. We expect that these students have taken high school course loads of reasonable and appropriate challenge in the context of their schools.

As a result, we do not require students to submit AP scores as part of our admission process. AP scores that are reported are acknowledged but rarely play a significant role in the evaluation of an application. Grades earned over the course of a term, or a year, and evaluations from instructors who can comment on classroom engagement provide us with the most detailed insight into a student's readiness for the academic rigors of Stanford."

[Anonymous]

Yep. 35 ACT has done nothing. Almost seems that a lower score would have been less of a red flag coupled with so so grades.

[Anonymous]

Wow. 35 is pretty good.

[Anonymous]

That's a lot of money to waste.

[Anonymous]

Even a 36 (with 4-36s subscores) didnt do much good for DC. Asian though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even a 36 (with 4-36s subscores) didnt do much good for DC. Asian though.

Can you define "didn't do much good"? Where did your child apply and where did they get in? I'm assuming you didn't have your child apply to just HYP schools, which are always going to be hard to predict, so what other schools were on the list? Did the grades match the 36's?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even a 36 (with 4-36s subscores) didnt do much good for DC. Asian though.

Can you define "didn't do much good"? Where did your child apply and where did they get in? I'm assuming you didn't have your child apply to just HYP schools, which are always going to be hard to predict, so what other schools were on the list? Did the grades match the 36's?

He got rejected by Ivy league and few other top tier schools that practice holistic admission process. He was accepted with a lot of merit $ to schools that use more stats driven admission process. He took a full ride to one of those schools. His other stats match his test score. GPA 3.95/4.75 (MCPS scale), 4s/5s on 13 APs, NMF/NMScholar, Presidential Scholar Candidate, AP National Scholar...etc.

Bottom line? A very good student but one of many Asian kids with similar stats. I guess Adcom didin't see what they were looking for in his app. He is very happy where he is though so it worked out okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even a 36 (with 4-36s subscores) didnt do much good for DC. Asian though.

Can you define "didn't do much good"? Where did your child apply and where did they get in? I'm assuming you didn't have your child apply to just HYP schools, which are always going to be hard to predict, so what other schools were on the list? Did the grades match the 36's?

He got rejected by Ivy league and few other top tier schools that practice holistic admission process. He was accepted with a lot of merit $ to schools that use more stats driven admission process. He took a full ride to one of those schools. His other stats match his test score. GPA 3.95/4.75 (MCPS scale), 4s/5s on 13 APs, NMF/NMScholar, Presidential Scholar Candidate, AP National Scholar...etc.

Bottom line? A very good student but one of many Asian kids with similar stats. I guess Adcom didin't see what they were looking for in his app. He is very happy where he is though so it worked out okay.

Which school was that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even a 36 (with 4-36s subscores) didnt do much good for DC. Asian though.

Can you define "didn't do much good"? Where did your child apply and where did they get in? I'm assuming you didn't have your child apply to just HYP schools, which are always going to be hard to predict, so what other schools were on the list? Did the grades match the 36's?

He got rejected by Ivy league and few other top tier schools that practice holistic admission process. He was accepted with a lot of merit $ to schools that use more stats driven admission process. He took a full ride to one of those schools. His other stats match his test score. GPA 3.95/4.75 (MCPS scale), 4s/5s on 13 APs, NMF/NMScholar, Presidential Scholar Candidate, AP National Scholar...etc.

Bottom line? A very good student but one of many Asian kids with similar stats. I guess Adcom didin't see what they were looking for in his app. He is very happy where he is though so it worked out okay.

Which school was that?

Where is he at? He is at UMD w/ B/K scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even a 36 (with 4-36s subscores) didnt do much good for DC. Asian though.

Can you define "didn't do much good"? Where did your child apply and where did they get in? I'm assuming you didn't have your child apply to just HYP schools, which are always going to be hard to predict, so what other schools were on the list? Did the grades match the 36's?

He got rejected by Ivy league and few other top tier schools that practice holistic admission process. He was accepted with a lot of merit $ to schools that use more stats driven admission process. He took a full ride to one of those schools. His other stats match his test score. GPA 3.95/4.75 (MCPS scale), 4s/5s on 13 APs, NMF/NMScholar, Presidential Scholar Candidate, AP National Scholar...etc.

Bottom line? A very good student but one of many Asian kids with similar stats. I guess Adcom didin't see what they were looking for in his app. He is very happy where he is though so it worked out okay.

Which school was that?

Where is he at? He is at UMD w/ B/K scholarship.

To me that sounds like it worked out actually. My DD is Asian/Caucasian mix with similar stats and would be thrilled with that outcome. We could stretch to afford Ivy League but hope we don't need to and she gets UMCP honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even a 36 (with 4-36s subscores) didnt do much good for DC. Asian though.

Can you define "didn't do much good"? Where did your child apply and where did they get in? I'm assuming you didn't have your child apply to just HYP schools, which are always going to be hard to predict, so what other schools were on the list? Did the grades match the 36's?

He got rejected by Ivy league and few other top tier schools that practice holistic admission process. He was accepted with a lot of merit $ to schools that use more stats driven admission process. He took a full ride to one of those schools. His other stats match his test score. GPA 3.95/4.75 (MCPS scale), 4s/5s on 13 APs, NMF/NMScholar, Presidential Scholar Candidate, AP National Scholar...etc.

Bottom line? A very good student but one of many Asian kids with similar stats. I guess Adcom didin't see what they were looking for in his app. He is very happy where he is though so it worked out okay.

Which school was that?

Where is he at? He is at UMD w/ B/K scholarship.

To me that sounds like it worked out actually. My DD is Asian/Caucasian mix with similar stats and would be thrilled with that outcome. We could stretch to afford Ivy League but hope we don't need to and she gets UMCP honors.

Good luck. As a no FA family, I wasn't too upset about getting rejections from top-tier schools. I think it worked out for us. He wants to go to med school after college so we plan to use 529 for that.

[Anonymous]

Impressive scores indeed. Presidential?