College Admissions Counseling Blog

A new study out by the University of California suggests that grades are the most important indicator of performance through all four years of college. At the same time SAT scores have very little predictive value for college performance.

An excellent summary of the study was published in Inside Higher Education by reporter Scott Jaschlik. We would encourage anyone interested in the topic of the importance of grades vs. test scores to read this article. While test scores will probably always have some importance, their influence seems to be under almost constant attack the past few years as more and more colleges go test optional and the College Board continues with problems with the SAT.

Because of the large scope of this study, many colleges will look seriously at the results. Hopefully the result is a moderating of the influence of standardized test scores on the entire college admissions process.