More Colleges Backing off SAT and ACT Admissions Rule

[OHMomof2]

Tufts drops the SAT Subject test requirement: https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/03/12/tufts-drops-sat-subject-test-requirement

[quote] The university had been among 10 American colleges to require what had once been standard for admission to competitive colleges.

…our institutional research office has determined there is very minimal correlation between performance on the subject tests and a student’s performance in first-year classes here.

[/quote]

[OHMomof2]

Harvard drops the SAT and ACT essay/writing requirement.

“While over 70 percent of students taking the SAT and more than 50 percent taking the ACT opt in to the essay, not even 2 percent of colleges require an essay score,” the blog post says. “Students and taxpayers are sending tens of millions of dollars into the College Board’s and ACT’s coffers and don’t appear to be getting anything out of it other than one more source of anxiety when it comes to college applications. It is time for the SAT and ACT essays to go.”

Obviously the Common App essay and supps remain.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/03/19/harvard-ends-requirement-sat-essay

[evergreen5]

^Interesting. One would have to assume the SAT/ACT essays provide little value in the admissions process.

It’s also interesting that Harvard still has released no score info for Class of 2021 (CDS 2017-18), on the eve of decisions for Class of 2022. I wonder whether this delay is business as usual for H or whether they’re trying to avoid doing so, as 2021 has a mixture of old and new SATs, whereas 2022 will be virtually all new.

[ucbalumnus]

@evergreen5

One would have to assume the SAT/ACT essays provide little value in the admissions process.

Harvard’s admission dean previously said that the writing section of the 2400 version of the SAT was more predictive of college performance than the other sections. He said the same for SAT subject tests. (But it may be that prep companies have figured out how to game the essay better since then.)

However, the reason given in the IHE article is to avoid disadvantaging those who may not be aware of needing to take that section, the same stated reason for changing the SAT subject tests from required to recommended. I.e. to avoid disqualifying 1G/LI students in high schools that do not have a well running college admissions express train because most students who go to college go to the community college or barely selective local state university.

[OHMomof2]

The article also said, of the 2400 version:

But many writing experts were highly critical of the format, noting among other things that it did not judge whether statements were factually correct. Les Perelman, an MIT writing professor, famously coached students on how to write ludicrous essays that would receive high scores.

Princeton Review said of the new version:

On the face of it, having students write an essay as part of the SAT and ACT seems like a good idea. In reality, however, there is little evidence that students’ scores on the essays indicate much about how they will perform in the classroom.

Can’t post link because of a word in it, but it is linked in the IHE article.

[quinntheeskimo]

really the only true way of judging a students writing ability would be to have the student write the essay in person at the time of the interview, as the common app essays are often more of a reflection on how well the reviewers and editors enlisted by the student write essays

[OHMomof2]

Another one drops the Subject test - Webb Institute - a marine engineering school.

director of admissions at Webb, said that officials there “realized over the past several years that the SAT subject tests did not necessarily correlate with students success at Webb,” especially in students’ first year.

So Webb created its own assessments in English and mathematics, which applicants must take on their required visit to campus as finalists for admission.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/03/26/webb-institute-latest-college-drop-sat-subject-test-requirement

[OHMomof2]

On Harvard dropping the SAT essay -

The question is how much value it adds to a student’s application. That depends on whether colleges are actually using the essays from the SAT or ACT in any meaningful way. Those essays can certainly offer a control for admissions officers worried about how much outside help and editing is taking place on application essays.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/views/2018/03/26/considering-implications-harvard-dropping-sat-essay-opinion