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April 4, 2006
SAT Optional
It looks like we're dropping the SAT as a requirement for admission, though students will be able to submit the score. Indeed, the head of admissions said that schools like us (see this list of colleges -- there are plenty of schools like us on it) who don't require the SAT still get between 60 and 70% submission rates. The Provost admitted under questioning that our average SAT score would probably rise, since those who elect to submit will probably be at the higher end of the spectrum. So our USNews and World Report ranking may rise.
The admissions folks assured the assembled Faculty that there won't be any trouble making good admissions decisions without those numbers -- that our admissions are individual enough for them to see what's going on. They hope that dropping the requirement will raise the number of applications overall (USNews data point? Umm, yeah, under "acceptance rate." See the pattern? By the way, how we convinced them to say on our At a Glance page that our setting is URBAN I'll never know -- Geneva (pop., c. 13,000) is more urban than, say, Clinton where Hamilton is, but not much!).
I'm reasonably agnostic about the ability of the SAT Verbal score to predict anything (plenty of people learn how to write after getting to college). The SAT Math score, though -- that is an amazingly strong predictor of my difficulty in persuading an advisee to take a real course in math or science. Under our system students can get away with just one course satisfying the requirement -- oh, pardon me! "adressing," not "satisfying," is what we say. I'd like to ask the Registrar to tell us what the SAT Math score is below which no student takes a mathematics-centered course AND a lab science. Some of my students -- and I am not exaggerating at all -- have trouble understanding how I figure their grades.
Bates College did it first. Here's some of what they have to say about it. Something I don't understand is the difference between requiring submission of a particular piece of information from a student and submitting one's admission decision to that piece of information, especially at a place our size (or Bates's size). The anecdote Bates provides -- the Vietnamese immigrant -- fails to persuade me. Surely a recent immigrant who makes a 400 on the Verbal is doing fine and could be admitted -- unless you're afraid that her score will pull down your USNews numbers. Perhaps they would say that she would have been scared away by a requirement? Perhaps. Perhaps. I'm not entirely convinced of the ordering of motives behind the decision-making.
Motive isn't everything, but it's certainly illuminating. A brave line was taken at our faculty meeting about the evils of the culturally-biased SAT, but everyone likes the idea of raising our rankings without doing something like raising more money for the endowment or hiring more tenure-track faculty members or improving our retention rate of students once we admit them.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at April 4, 2006 6:35 AM
Comments
The real evil seems to be the US News & World reports ranking. Did you know that the National Association of Independent Schools (and several other private-school associations) has a position paper on ranking schools?
http://www.nais.org/about/article.cfm?ItemNumber=145361
two opening paragraphs
NAIS Statement: On Ranking Schools
January 1, 1997
NAIS Board of Directors
With this, as with all questions related to elementary and secondary education, we must keep our focus on the children's best interests. The National Association of Independent Schools is and always has been opposed to the ranking of schools. The "best" school — public, parochial, or independent— is the one that uniquely meets the needs of each particular child.
In the independent school sector, each institution, in its mission statement, defines its own objectives: the kind of program and campus culture the school provides, and often, the qualities that will help a student to succeed there. These schools were not created from one mold. They have different missions, offer different grade ranges, curricular emphases, pedagogical approaches, and extracurricular programs. Some schools are highly competitive by design, others intentionally create a nurturing atmosphere in which certain students will thrive; some focus on the arts, some on mathematics and science, others on outdoor education. Different schools offer programs for different types of students— bright students with learning differences, the gifted, students of average ability, children who face particular challenges.
Wouldn't the college world be better off if the UN&WR game were abolished?
Posted by: Liz at April 4, 2006 11:32 AM
Professor, I have a issue concerning the Sat and its optional requirement. Do you think colleges should include SAT'S as part of admissions? If yes why, if no why?
....I'm in favor of something OTHER than high school transcripts (very unstandardized), recommendations (filled with lies), and essays (now available online for money). I have no idea why an institution would deny itself the information of standardized tests. They need not be the SAT, but they need to be something not controlled by the local school. I am in favor of requiring the SATII achievement tests, probably, and allow AP tests in major fields (English, history, a science) or the IB to replace it. Colleges deserve the tools to make good decisions! --MCT
Posted by: Shoni at September 5, 2006 6:40 PM