Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school counselor gaslit my high score DC, basically told DC their high score is treated the same as 1500. Counselor was an AO at an ivy. So I guess it’s not helpful.

They could use it in shaping the class, where most AOs are not involved.

What does it mean shaping the class? Who is shaping the class if AOs are not involved?

Shaping the class means using computers to adjust who is in and out to make sure there are enough students in certain categories: boys, rural students, in-state students (at state schools), full-pay students (at schools where that matters), etc.

And majors and special talents/abilities.

these are not all hooks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school counselor gaslit my high score DC, basically told DC their high score is treated the same as 1500. Counselor was an AO at an ivy. So I guess it’s not helpful.

We were told differently by a former AO at an Ivy (1550 plus treated differently) so may depend on the school. Anecdotally, the kid with the 1600 and cum laude from our private did very well among T10 schools.

But do you really see it in Naviance?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan definitely uses SAT to tease how who to take EA/ED from our private. Something like 40 out of 80 in the graduating class apply to Michigan each year. Michigan will take about 2 of these kids EA (now ED). How do they decide which 2 of 40 they take? It seems in large part based on SAT. In recent years the 1590/1600s have gotten in.

This probably varies a lot by high school. Michigan is so large that the rep covering DC doesn't even cover VA or MD. And I'm sure you don't have one committee making all the decisions. There is no way one group of people reviews all 100K apps or sits on a single committee that admits 15,000 kids. So clearly there are different final committees based on region or whatever and what chooses may be different than what another committee chooses.

FYI- Michigan has 2 reps for DC this year. They split it up.

Crazy. I think 50% of all kids from JR, Walls and the privates apply to Michigan. It's such a big pool of applicants. In the end, each year they take kids who are close to middle-of-the-class from the top privates but it's a long road of attrition to get there.

Anonymous wrote:Generally speaking, as long as you hit 700+ on both segments, you've crossed that bar. The rest of the application is what matters after that. The SAT is only one part of the equation, and colleges do not force rank applicants by SAT score.

Top 15/ivy schools generally want 760+ on math and 730+ on reading, for unhooked, as a bar, ie 96%ile on each.

700 on each is the bar for T30ish .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It checks the SAT box at T20 but that's about it.

This. It helps for us only at public flagships (UVA, Michigan, Texas, UNC). Not really that big of a deal (sadly).

OP was asking about T20. So only UMich might matter marginally.

I get the impression if you have a 1600, even 3.9 plus and the resume is bare, you'll be beat out by 'interesting' children at top universities.

Anonymous wrote:Michigan definitely uses SAT to tease how who to take EA/ED from our private. Something like 40 out of 80 in the graduating class apply to Michigan each year. Michigan will take about 2 of these kids EA (now ED). How do they decide which 2 of 40 they take? It seems in large part based on SAT. In recent years the 1590/1600s have gotten in.

This probably varies a lot by high school. Michigan is so large that the rep covering DC doesn't even cover VA or MD. And I'm sure you don't have one committee making all the decisions. There is no way one group of people reviews all 100K apps or sits on a single committee that admits 15,000 kids. So clearly there are different final committees based on region or whatever and what chooses may be different than what another committee chooses.

FYI- Michigan has 2 reps for DC this year. They split it up.

Anonymous wrote:Our school counselor gaslit my high score DC, basically told DC their high score is treated the same as 1500. Counselor was an AO at an ivy. So I guess it’s not helpful.

We were told differently by a former AO at an Ivy (1550 plus treated differently) so may depend on the school. Anecdotally, the kid with the 1600 and cum laude from our private did very well among T10 schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan definitely uses SAT to tease how who to take EA/ED from our private. Something like 40 out of 80 in the graduating class apply to Michigan each year. Michigan will take about 2 of these kids EA (now ED). How do they decide which 2 of 40 they take? It seems in large part based on SAT. In recent years the 1590/1600s have gotten in.

This probably varies a lot by high school. Michigan is so large that the rep covering DC doesn't even cover VA or MD. And I'm sure you don't have one committee making all the decisions. There is no way one group of people reviews all 100K apps or sits on a single committee that admits 15,000 kids. So clearly there are different final committees based on region or whatever and what chooses may be different than what another committee chooses.

Unless your private is in Michigan, your college counseling sucks. Not because Michigan is a particularly tough admit, but because you are making it so.

DP here. What do you mean? What should college counseling be doing differently?

Anonymous wrote:Michigan definitely uses SAT to tease how who to take EA/ED from our private. Something like 40 out of 80 in the graduating class apply to Michigan each year. Michigan will take about 2 of these kids EA (now ED). How do they decide which 2 of 40 they take? It seems in large part based on SAT. In recent years the 1590/1600s have gotten in.

This probably varies a lot by high school. Michigan is so large that the rep covering DC doesn't even cover VA or MD. And I'm sure you don't have one committee making all the decisions. There is no way one group of people reviews all 100K apps or sits on a single committee that admits 15,000 kids. So clearly there are different final committees based on region or whatever and what chooses may be different than what another committee chooses.

Unless your private is in Michigan, your college counseling sucks. Not because Michigan is a particularly tough admit, but because you are making it so.

Anonymous wrote:Other than schools like Caltech?

I have looked at our Naviance, I don’t see a pattern where high test scores help admissions. There is always a healthy distribution of test scores for top schools.

Someone mentioned in the other thread that they help in Michigan admissions. What is your observation at your school?

It actually might help at Michigan, but that is partly because Michigan is an easier admit than its inflated U.S. News ranking would indicate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than schools like Caltech?

I have looked at our Naviance, I don’t see a pattern where high test scores help admissions. There is always a healthy distribution of test scores for top schools.

Someone mentioned in the other thread that they help in Michigan admissions. What is your observation at your school?

of course it helps. schools want to be able to add that average into their stats. high gpa also helps.

GPA only has to be reported if school reports it, most privates don't.

If the grades match the SAT score, it means the application will get read everywhere. So the student passes the first threshold. After that, it's the rest of the app that matters.

I think we are back at the pre-Covid norm, meaning once you hit 1500/34 you've crossed the stats threshold for every school. Scores higher than that aren't meaningfully important for admissions. The ECs will be much more important than an additional few points on the SAT.

Michigan definitely uses SAT to tease how who to take EA/ED from our private. Something like 40 out of 80 in the graduating class apply to Michigan each year. Michigan will take about 2 of these kids EA (now ED). How do they decide which 2 of 40 they take? It seems in large part based on SAT. In recent years the 1590/1600s have gotten in.

This probably varies a lot by high school. Michigan is so large that the rep covering DC doesn't even cover VA or MD. And I'm sure you don't have one committee making all the decisions. There is no way one group of people reviews all 100K apps or sits on a single committee that admits 15,000 kids. So clearly there are different final committees based on region or whatever and what chooses may be different than what another committee chooses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school counselor gaslit my high score DC, basically told DC their high score is treated the same as 1500. Counselor was an AO at an ivy. So I guess it’s not helpful.

They could use it in shaping the class, where most AOs are not involved.

What does it mean shaping the class? Who is shaping the class if AOs are not involved?

Shaping the class means using computers to adjust who is in and out to make sure there are enough students in certain categories: boys, rural students, in-state students (at state schools), full-pay students (at schools where that matters), etc.