Smith College - GPA and Test Scores for Admission

By Allen Grove, About.com Guide

Smith College is one of the country's top women's colleges, and admissions are selective. Fewer than half of all applicants get admitted, and students who get in have strong academic records. In the graph above, the blue and green dots represent accepted students, and you can see that most students who got into Smith had averages of A- or higher. SAT and ACT scores aren't that important because Smith has test-optional admissions. However, most applicants excelled on this front as well with SAT scores (CR+M+W) above 1900. Many Smith students had impressive "A" averages in high school.

Smith College, like all selective liberal arts colleges, has holistic admissions, so successful applicants need to have strengths that go beyond impressive grades and test scores. This is the reason why you see some red dots (rejected students) and yellow dots (waitlisted students) mixed in with the green and blue in the graph. Competitive applications should have a winning essay, strong letters of recommendation, and interesting extracurricular activities. As a few of the data points above illustrate, strengths in some of these areas can compensate for grades and test scores that are a little less than ideal.

To learn more about Smith College, high school GPAs, SAT scores and ACT scores, these articles can help:

• Smith College Admissions Profile
• What's Considered a Good Academic Record?
• What's a Good SAT Score?
• What's a Good ACT Score?
• What is a Weighted GPA?


• Articles Featuring Smith College:
  • Five College Consortium
  • Top Women's Colleges
  • Top New England Colleges
  • Top Massachusetts Colleges
  • Great Colleges for Students with Low SAT Scores
  • Phi Beta Kappa