<p>"Two weeks ago, De Paul announced that they would no longer require SATs or ACTs for admission, becoming the largest non-profit university in the country to drop testing requirements. This follows a trend among catholic colleges to join the Fairtest movement which has seen Holy Cross, Providence College, Fairfield and Loyola Maryland go test-optional in the last few years.</p>
<p>The grand total of Fairtest colleges in the US now exceeds 830 and includes very elite colleges including Bowdoin, Middlebury and Wake Forest. NYU made an unusual and innovative test flexible move last year when they announced that students could submit the SAT, or the ACT, or 3 SAT II Subject Tests, or 3 AP exams (taken before senior year). The policies may differ, but they all add up to universities expanding access to talented students who may not excel in their ability to take standardized tests."</p>
<p>If this trend keeps spreading…the whole war or ‘race to the top’ strategy will be dramatically changed…but still having taken extra tests will be nice…:D</p>
<p>What do tests tell you about a student? What does grades show about a student? Think about it and respond. I really think these schools are going in the right direction.</p>
<p>I don’t think one’s grades and extracurricular activities should be the defining skill set on one’s application. I’ve never been a fan of standardized testing, but there needs to be some mechanism to fairly highlight an individual’s ability (the ACT being better than the SAT).</p>
<p>You need an equalizer, that is what the SAT is made for. A 97 GPA at one school may be an equivalent 90 GPA at another. However a 2200 SAT is the same regardless of the school.</p>
<p>Not every 2200 is the same. Math, Critical Reading and Writing are not viewed equally by every school. Some schools don’t even look at the Writing section.</p>
<p>It is sad if standardized tests go away. They test how much a student can retain and more importantly thinking critically and FAST under time crunch. Is it not we adults exercise at workplace in decision making under deadlines and pressure. I believe it is good exercise for students to take these standardized tests and good grammar in writing.</p>
<p>OMG. They can’t do this. The SAT can be a SAVIOR or discoverer of some very intelligent people. Some people don’t care about school and get bad grades, but find out that they’re geniuses when they get 2400 on their SAT and then they can get into better colleges.</p>
<p>^^ I have a great idea then; if students are taking these tests just to see “how much a student can retain?” how about using the subject tests instead?</p>
<p>If we are testing how FAST under time crunch, let’s find a way for students to have a real live problem solving interview?</p>
<p>and btw, while you may favor standardized tests, your last sentence makes absolutely no sense…</p>
<p>FWIW, I do believe that GPA’s are not standardized enough in this country to compare one GPA to another and, therefore, colleges have resorted to SAT/ACT to level the playing field…
small schools have the luxury of not having to do that and, therefore, MANY have chosen to eliminate the standardized test requirement (and applause all around for them)…and many have chosen alternative assessment methods…</p>
<p>others have used the “optional” card to increase the number of apps while not requiring additional info, and then they reject all but the straight 4.0 GPA student who submits without scores…bad…just bad…</p>
<p>But schools that receive tens of thousands of apps (regardless of the size of the school) cannot possibly extract and examine all the GPA bs that comes across their desks and have to use SAT/ACT (in addition to essays, etc)</p>
<p>I don’t like to be cynical, but I don’t think the colleges are doing it because they don’t believe it provides any relevant information, I think they’re doing it because that way the SAT and ACT scores they report to the common data set can stay at a higher average. Students self select whether or not they send scores. The high scorers send them and the low scorers don’t - so the school reports a higher student SAT score. It helps their rating.</p>
<p>unless they are (like Muhlenberg) requiring incoming freshman to report scores AFTER they are enrolled…they are recording true #'s for common data set; not all schools do, as you point out, but some do…</p>
<p>I still believe SAT is a better test than ACT. A Humanities student may not be good at Science subjects. After all, SAT is testing basic Math, Reading abilities that go a long way in student and adult life and grammar skills so one need not be embarrassed in written communication.</p>