<p>i'm not sure what incurs the ire of those who find the sat optional policies of liberal arts colleges inappropriate. perhaps the easiest way to remedy the situation would be to ask USNEWS to report all students' scores, and not only those who submit them. that they don't, or that the colleges don't, indicates the difference of opinion over whether a magazine should dictate the admissions practices of colleges or whether colleges should still maintain some sense of autonomy in whom they admit and how. </p>
<p>other concerns are: that the difference between the actual average of SAT scores of students at, say, bowdoin and the average of those who chose to submit their scores (roughly 80% of the applicant pool and 80% of the admitted class) is substantial enough to contribute weightily to the fraction of the selectivity score the SAT comprises and, even less plausibly, contribute with any meaningful difference to the overall rank of the school. it is hard to imagine it would so seriously change the result.</p>
<p>further, at bowdoin the SAT is used to help gauge which classes one enters, but it is not the gatekeeper to those classes. the chemistry department had their own diagnostic test when i was there, and the math department granted open admission to any student in any class without a prerequisite, notwithstanding whether or not that student followed the suggested correlation between SAT score and math level. for instance, i got a 720 on my SAT math, but had taken a gap year before starting at bowdoin. rather confident in my math ability, i enrolled in the highest calculus class available at bowdoin without prerequisites. after a year of no math, and a fogginess about the derivative itself, i decided to not take the class after all. bowdoin's correlative chart used the SAT to determine that i could handle a certain calculus class. it did not, however, use the SAT as a sieve to block students who were up for the challenge to take a class that did not correlate to their score. the claim that colleges should use the SAT 100% or 0% is unreasonable. </p>
<p>if there were no USNEWS rankings, SAT optional colleges would not cause any controversy whatsoever. the fact of the matter is, most people find it unfair that certain highly ranked liberal arts colleges are so ranked when they don't have to disclose the information fully to USNEWS to participate in the ranking. again, it is beholden on those who are so rankled to make sure that the difference in SAT averages would create such a drop. For there are 2 ways to view the USNEWS rankings - an assessment of student and college quality used by non-applicants to understand a loose hierarchy of american education, or an assessment of student and college quality used by applicants to determine whether or not he or she could be admitted to a certain school. if an applicant is using USNEWS, it would be counterproductive for a school like bowdoin to include in its SAT average those scorers who didn't submit. indeed, it would drop the average and encourage students who would likely be rejected because of a low SAT score to submit that score on the faulty assumption that there are those in attendance at bowdoin who were admitted with that score. an average that consists only of those students who submitted their scores provides an applicant to bowdoin the only possible gauge in determining whether or not they should submit, based on those members of the college who did submit. </p>
<p>finally, i am nonplussed by president devin's editorial. he has no axe to grind about ranking fairness and unfairness. instead, he seems to assume that the skills that make one successful at difficult and prestigious colleges in new england are assessed exclusively by the SAT. that he thinks it implausible that admissions committees could use other assessment tools is a surprisingly narrow view of student quality from a college president of a traditionally open-minded place. furthermore, it seems strange that the president would cast such a disparaging view on the ability of applicants to decide for themselves whether or not they should submit scores. the admissions process at a place like bowdoin does not come down to SAT alone. if an applicant chooses not to submit, she is not immediately admitted. an applicant may think her ability greater than it is; if so, that overconfidence is expressed in the rest of the application. if an applicant is right about the sat, however: that it doesn't accurately measure her intelligence and ability, that too will be evident in an excellent writing sample. it is not inconsequential that bowdoin requires two full essays in the application to the college. </p>
<p>perhaps there is criticism to levy on places that recently move to an SAT optional policy solely to boost their rank. but such an accusation is at once exceptionally cynical and also presumes that there could only be one persuasive reason to do such a thing. the presumption is wrong, however. in 1969 bowdoin introduced their sat optional policy, a good 20 years before USNEWS standardized american higher education. they did so to increase student diversity, meaning to bring more artists and actors to campus, students whose creativity was not typically well served by the SAT. that bowdoin has been SAT optional for almost 40 years provides ample statistical evidence against any fairtest naysayer that would rather settle with a cynical conclusion that look at hard facts. they are:</p>
<p>there are many reasons to adopt an SAT optional policy</p>
<p>the SAT does not typically serve more creative minds well</p>
<p>the SAT can be studied for and is not equivalent to an IQ test</p>
<p>those who choose not to submit their SAT, at bowdoin at least, have, over the past 40 years, not differed in college GPA from those who were admitted with their SAT. some of bowdoin's more successful alumni would not have been admitted had the school required the SAT.</p>