High school courses, grades, essays and life experiences all factor into the admissions equation.

Every year, college admissions staffs give thousands of presentations to audiences throughout the U.S. One question is asked more frequently than any other: “What are you looking for in the SAT?”

Beneath the surface of that question is the underlying fear that SAT scores will have a veto power over everything else that a student has accomplished, and at some colleges they probably do. On a positive note, at a growing number of colleges, scores play a less critical and more complex role in admissions decisions.

The word complex is pertinent here because not all students are alike. For some students, the SAT is a valid measure of their readiness for college, especially when combined with a review of their course selection and grades. For others, however, test scores can be misleading or give an incomplete picture of the student.

So, how do colleges determine if a student is a good fit for their institution? This can be a challenge to determine because an A student from a weak high school might be less prepared than an A student from a competitive high school because their course material likely differs in degree of difficulty.

If there is one piece of information that is consistently more valuable than any other, it is the rigor of a student’s high school course selection. Succeeding in tough academic classes is a good sign that the student is likely to succeed in college.

That’s why many colleges admit students with modest SAT scores after they have taken tough classes and earned outstanding grades in them. Similarly, some colleges will deny admission to applicants with very high SAT’s when their grades do not correspond with their test scores.

What role, then, should the tests play? In the majority of cases, they neither help nor hurt many applicants. With challenging course selections, strong grades, supportive letters of recommendation, and persuasive essays it makes it hard for a college to say no based on SAT scores alone, keeping in mind the fact that every student is different with his/her individual strengths and weaknesses. However, there are many applicants for whom the evidence in the file is ambiguous and contradictory with applicants having high SAT scores but poor grades, and that is why the majority of colleges still require standardized tests.

No single measure works for all students or all high schools. These are all pieces of information that shed light on applicants. Individually, each piece is flawed and incomplete in what it tells us. Collectively, they tell admission staffs a great deal and help them understand what is distinctive about each applicant. So take a deep breath and focus on distinguishing yourself as a whole, not just through your SAT scores.