| It has been 30 years since I was a high school | | | | they are well read, do math every day and bone |
| senior, but I had to take the SATs just as 11th | | | | up on their Latin, if they have the chance. That |
| and 12th graders do now. I did okay, but not | | | | will land an applicant in all but the most selective |
| good enough to get into my two first choice | | | | schools, where admissions officers must split fine |
| schools. Back then, I blamed the SATs and called | | | | hairs to make a decision-and that decision is likely |
| them unfair, but life went on. I graduated happily | | | | to be based on something other than SATs. |
| in four years from the school I chose. | | | | Fairtest.org, a non-profit education advocacy |
| I am no better qualified to evaluate the validity of | | | | group, reported that 704 U.S. colleges and |
| the SAT today than I was in high school, but I | | | | universities do not require the SAT for admissions |
| know that the test is still a fact of life. I also | | | | purposes. However, the same organization reports |
| learned that students who performed at a high | | | | that some schools still use the test results to |
| level in all college-prep subjects usually scored high | | | | evaluate applicants who do not meet their |
| on the SATs. That is a very small segment of a | | | | minimum criteria for class rank and grade point |
| high school graduating class; it is the people at the | | | | average; this includes flagship state universities |
| very top. Most of us had difficulty with a subject | | | | such as the University of Texas-Austin (except |
| or two. Sciences were my weak point in high | | | | engineering), the University of Iowa and the |
| school and I avoided them in college. | | | | University of Oregon. In addition, some |
| The people who did the best on these tests were | | | | SAT-optional schools still use the SAT to place |
| well read, studied Latin and also achieved | | | | students into freshman-level courses. It's wise to |
| excellence in math. I took four years of math, | | | | get specifics from the schools of interest to you |
| through pre-calculus; I was doing math problems | | | | before deciding to avoid the test. |
| every day at school, so I was adequately | | | | Who benefits from an SAT optional policy at a |
| prepared for SAT math. However, I was not the | | | | competitive four-year college? The students with |
| reader I am today, nor did I have a large | | | | good to excellent grades in college-prep subjects, |
| vocabulary, so my verbal scores were not so hot. | | | | who are also exceptional or passionate, about an |
| When I got to college, I met someone who had | | | | academic subject or a creative pursuit. Such |
| scored over 700 on the verbal portions of the | | | | talents can be demonstrated in the application |
| test. "The SAT vocabulary was easy," he said, "if | | | | packet, recommendations, a portfolio, or |
| you knew Latin roots." He had three years of | | | | interviews, but not on the SATs. |
| Catholic school Latin under his belt, so his | | | | The SAT optional policy makes admissions more |
| education gave him an advantage. I will not call | | | | competitive, because it will attract larger numbers |
| that an unfair advantage; he still had to remember | | | | of qualified applicants. Every competitive college |
| all those roots for the test. | | | | wants their fair share of artists, performers, |
| I got a better understanding of reading | | | | activists, scientists, and even athletes in their |
| comprehension, an important part of the SAT, | | | | entering class; some are willing to deemphasize |
| when I took my GMATs for business school. My | | | | standardized tests to get them. While an SAT |
| Princeton Review tutor warned us non-scientists | | | | optional policy will lessen the likelihood an applicant |
| about the science essays on the exam; she | | | | is rejected because of test scores, the applicant |
| pointed to the "caffeine passage from hell," an | | | | must be exceptional in some other way to |
| essay on the chemical composition of coffee, to | | | | compensate. |
| make her point. If you had done poorly in | | | | If you want to take a shot at an SAT optional |
| chemistry, your eyes would glaze over that | | | | school, and you have to contend with SAT |
| essay and you were likely to get the questions | | | | scores below the school's average, take the time |
| wrong. If you did well in the sciences, and | | | | and attention to prepare an exceptional application |
| understood the passage, you could get those | | | | that stands out from the crowd, and show that |
| questions right. | | | | each school is your first choice. |
| What is my point? The best students, the ones | | | | The line of applicants to SAT optional selective |
| who do well in every subject, should have little to | | | | schools and flagship universities will be getting |
| fear from the SATs. They should score well | | | | longer every year. It will be harder to stand out in |
| enough to get into an excellent school. Especially if | | | | a larger applicant pool. |