Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is obviously a ridiculous troll thread. Come on.

MCPS kid. Everyone has 3.9/4.5 or up

These posts make me literally want to cry. I can assure you that not "everyone" does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If gpa is 3.9/4.5 with a very hard load of classes and 8 5/5 APs also in very hard classes, what SAT can give a chance to top 50? What about Top 20?

DS had a 3.3/4 UW. Scored 1590 in one seating and 36.
He got in Dartmouth and Notre Dame….

Wow -- was that from a private or public? No legacy or sport at either?

Our kid with 3.8uw, 4.8w, 12 APs, 1510 SAT kid from a large DC suburb which grade inflates like crazy ended up at a 50-100 school. Decided against UMD (T50) but just noting for you since T20 seems like a stretch from where we are sitting. Who knows though, since it sounds like you are from a very different school district. Best of luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If gpa is 3.9/4.5 with a very hard load of classes and 8 5/5 APs also in very hard classes, what SAT can give a chance to top 50? What about Top 20?

A better thinking for your situation is to go for Oxbridge. Though they also look at your gpa, they look at AP and SAT a hell lot more. Assuming you do get a high test score, I would focus on UK colleges, particularly Oxbridge.

St Andrews is a shoe in

Shoo-in. As in, they’ll shoo you in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If gpa is 3.9/4.5 with a very hard load of classes and 8 5/5 APs also in very hard classes, what SAT can give a chance to top 50? What about Top 20?

A better thinking for your situation is to go for Oxbridge. Though they also look at your gpa, they look at AP and SAT a hell lot more. Assuming you do get a high test score, I would focus on UK colleges, particularly Oxbridge.

St Andrews is a shoe in

OP, look at the scattergrams for your particular high school. We can’t tell you. For our HS that GPA would be pretty good and a 1500+ would make the kid a candidate anywhere. But at some schools that might not be the case.

1450 / 1500

Anonymous wrote:If gpa is 3.9/4.5 with a very hard load of classes and 8 5/5 APs also in very hard classes, what SAT can give a chance to top 50? What about Top 20?

A better thinking for your situation is to go for Oxbridge. Though they also look at your gpa, they look at AP and SAT a hell lot more. Assuming you do get a high test score, I would focus on UK colleges, particularly Oxbridge.

Anonymous wrote:If gpa is 3.9/4.5 with a very hard load of classes and 8 5/5 APs also in very hard classes, what SAT can give a chance to top 50? What about Top 20?

That is not a mediocre GPA....

Test score, when viewed in the context of your school, is important. Many here jumped at the first chance to opine that scores are not important, and don't do much on their own.
If test scores are not important, why schools consistently end up having 25% with 1570 or higher, 50% with 1525 or higher? Year after year?

Application Nation said that even at test optional school, most of the kids got in not only submit scores, but high scores.
Downplaying the importance of test scores, especially this year, is misleading or at least an outdated view

You're asking the wrong question. Nothing salvages anything. It's all just marbles in a jar in holistic admits. It's hard for parents to accept but there are lots of human and strategic preferences and opinions involved.

Generally tho, RIGOR is king and it sounds like your kid has a lot of that. It's not as impressive to have a 4.0 gpa if you haven't tested yourself with the most demanding types of AP courses across multiple disciplines in the big 5 subject areas.

GPA is seen in context of your school.

Standardized tests are used to qualify or give confidence when weighed along with GPA and rigor. They don't do much on their own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If gpa is 3.9/4.5 with a very hard load of classes and 8 5/5 APs also in very hard classes, what SAT can give a chance to top 50? What about Top 20?

DS had a 3.3/4 UW. Scored 1590 in one seating and 36.
He got in Dartmouth and Notre Dame….

A few schools like 1590/36. Dartmouth, Penn, Vandy, WashU.
Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Emory don't care as much.
ED at the right school can make a difference.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there is any test score that can get you into a T20 with a mediocre GPA. I say this as a NMSF with a similar GPA. No T20 acceptances,, but lots in the 20s and 30s range.

This—I’d aim for the 20-50 and then also for some schools in the 50-100 if you’re interested in merit aid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If gpa is 3.9/4.5 with a very hard load of classes and 8 5/5 APs also in very hard classes, what SAT can give a chance to top 50? What about Top 20?

DS had a 3.3/4 UW. Scored 1590 in one seating and 36.
He got in Dartmouth and Notre Dame….

Dartmouth loves 36....

Landscaping ...

They always look at your stats in the context of your school.

Agree that rigor is far more important than anything else. Highest highest possible rigor gets in all the time.

Then gpa, you don't want to have Cs, preferably nothing lower than B+.

Test score, they compare it with your school average. It's highly meaningful.