Thanks for your input. To clarify, a lot of this material has been put together by other users - I just transformed the info in website form. I think you're ri

Thanks for your input. To clarify, a lot of this material has been put together by other users - I just transformed the info in website form. I think you're right for the most part. CC is full of kids giving each other advice and none of them really know what they're saying. To me, the SAT is table-stakes. If your scores aren't high enough, it's highly unlikely you'll get into a top school. So most of the site is about how to get to the point where you're consistently scoring 750+ -> 2250 composite. At that point, any additional gains are marginal. After that, you're competitive score wise and you can move on. I'm 100% with you there and I think the website confirms that. The rest of your app is just as important, but you have much less flexibility in changing years of high school. You can control your essay but can't really change much else. So if you're a freshman in high school, then stretching yourself intellectually and doing interesting things is a great way to spend four years. But if you're a 2nd semester junior applying to colleges next fall, you have way less flexibility. So the guide focuses on SAT, and I want to expand on the essay stuff. To summarize, transcript is #1, but everything else matters too. You can control your test scores + essay in a short period of time - the rest you can't. So if you have years of time, then becoming an interesting person is a great investment. If you don't, get competitive scores and a great essay, and hope for the best.