NYU, Conn College, Fairfield U go SAT-optional (sort of)

<p>Now that the admissions cycle is winding down, colleges are starting to announce changes for next year. </p>

<p>Fairfield University (CT) is going SAT-optional, but they'll require an additional essay and recommend an interview.</p>

<p>Fairfield</a> University Admission Standardized Test Optional Policy</p>

<p>Connecticut College also adopted an SAT-optional policy, but strangely, retains very detailed requirements for students who choose to submit:</p>

<p>Connecticut</a> College : Admission - Standardized Test Policy</p>

<p>And NYU didn't really go SAT-optional; it just has a new policy that requires standardized testing, but liberalizes the choices somewhat:</p>

<p>New</a> York U. Plans to Make ACT and SAT Scores Optional for*Applicants - Chronicle.com</p>

<p>
[quote]
As of next fall, applicants may choose instead to send scores from the SAT and two Advanced Placement examinations; or scores from three SAT subject tests, excluding language tests; or scores from three AP exams, also excluding language tests.</p>

<p>Students who can demonstrate “an extraordinary accomplishment,” such as publishing a book or winning a national competition, may submit only scores from the SAT, or two subject tests, or two AP exams.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Hasn’t Connecticut College been SAT-optional for at least 5 years?</p>

<p>Conn formerly had a very restrictive policy: applicants had to submit standardized test scores, but they required either the ACT or Subject Tests and did not accept SAT Reasoning, the default test for kids in that part of the country applying to schools of similar selectivity. (But they didn’t exactly discourage the idea that they were SAT-optional, which, in a strict sense, they were.)</p>

<p>I actually really like NYU’s change. I always wondered why high AP scores count so little in the admissions process…some people may really not test well on the SAT (for whatever reason) but are great at APs and SAT IIs (arguably more similar to real school)</p>

<p>DS took the SAT with no prep, and got scores in the 700’s. By the time he finished his college apps, 3 of his 6 schools had gone SAT optional.</p>

<p>DD hasn’t taken the SAT yet (May 2), but the PSAT was semi-disastrous. She’s taking an SAT prep course that she hates. And of course, all the schools she likes require either the SAT or ACT.</p>

<p>Irony…</p>

<p>On the plus side, she just got her ACT scores back and they were reasonable (within the 50% range for the schools she likes so far).</p>

<p>lafalum: if she took the ACT and hit 50% with barely any prep, why bother torturing her with the rest of the SAT prep course? or is it almost over anyway?..just let her prep for the June ACT…</p>

<p>She’s only got 2 SAT classes left, at this point she may as well finish. She hit the 25-75 range on the ACT, but she’s at the lower end of the range for the schools she REALLY likes. And we don’t have the ACT writing score yet, and she said she screwed up the essay. </p>

<p>(Funny story: she meant to change a word, and forgot to erase it until she was re-reading and the proctor said, “Time up, pencils down” and it was too late. She meant to write that the TV show WishBone had introduced her to Shakespearean plays and Huckleberry Finn, but what she actually wrote was that it introduced her to “Shakespearean plays LIKE Huckelberry Finn…” And since colleges can see your actual essay, I think she’s gonna have to re-take the ACT if for no other reason than to write another essay so that no one gets the idea that she thinks Shakespeare wrote Huckleberry Finn !)</p>

<p>She’ll probably re-take the ACT in Sept. Too much else going on (finals and fun stuff) in May and June. SAT in May, and October if necessary.</p>

<p>A more extended story on NYU and the general approach they’ve taken:</p>

<p>[News:</a> SAT Skepticism in New Form - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/21/sat]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/21/sat)</p>

<p>So, if you publish a national best-seller you only have to send in SAT scores to NYU? They won’t make you send your APUSH and AP English Lit scores? Isn’t that risky?</p>