I think it's interesting what they say about 800's on the SAT. To many in this country, getting an 800 on the SAT-M is the ultimate math achievement, when in reality, like the article states, the SAT doesn't begin to approach the reasoning/creativity/insight levels that a true mathematician can and should reach. This might be yet another instance where we are teaching to the test instead of developing the real talent.
That's why many top universities do interviews as well as encourage visits to the campus. During my interviews, which were done by post-doc Alums, they asked me a lot of questions about math, science, physics, chemistry, and computers. I had to work out problems they posed.
