By Greg Bejian
Staff Writer
Hand cramps, sore backs, and bloodshot eyes from sitting through a four-hour test are now optional, as St. Michael’s College has recently announced that the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is no longer required in the admissions process.
Prospective students for the class of 2015 will now choose whether or not they wish to submit test scores.
Admissions process
St. Michael’s has always done its best to make admissions decisions based on a holistic review of the student, including high school grades, essays, teacher recommendations and class rank, said Director of Admissions Jacqueline Murphy.
“High school records have always been the most important part of the admissions process,” she said.
“We’re not anti-SAT, but some students won’t apply to schools because of low scores, and we want to take that barrier away.”
Despite the new option, SATs are still very much a part of the admissions process and students are encouraged to submit test results if they feel the scores represent them well.
“Students should still send the scores unless they feel the results are not representative of their intelligence,” Murphy said.
According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, St. Michael’s is now one of more than 815 colleges and universities to discontinue using SATs as a deciding factor in admissions based on the belief that test scores do not equal merit.
Other schools
Many top schools have not switched back after SAT-optional experiments, including Princeton University, Bates College, St. Lawrence University, Providence College and Stonehill College.
Murphy and the admissions department feel strongly that judging a student’s aptitude must be done with much more than SAT scores, because some intelligent and hard working students may not test well for a variety of reasons.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Karen Talentino believes that some exceptionally bright students may not have the necessary means to score well on the SATs.
“We’re not anti-SAT, but some students won’t apply to schools because of low scores, and we want to take that barrier away.”
- Jacqueline Murphy
Director of Admissions |
Research shows that students who have problems with the SATs usually come from non-traditional schools, economically disadvantaged areas, or have unusual ethnic backgrounds,” Talentino said.
“Some people may not test well because of test anxiety, illness, or being distracted,” added Murphy.
Economic background is the biggest predictor of SAT scores, so making them optional may give some students who are not well off a better chance of going to a good school if they did not test well.
“It’s not possible for people to score above their ability level,” Murphy said. “But it is possible for them to score below their ability.”
Although the number of schools that have gone SAT-optional has grown rapidly in the past few years, many colleges and universities still consider standardized tests a useful tool. The value to admissions offices is that the SATs are the only measurement of a student’s ability that’s the same no matter what high school you go to, Murphy said.
SATs and GPA
Every year, the school conducts a study to measure how well the SATs can predict a first-year’s GPA.
Before going home every summer, the school looks at how first-years performed based on test scores and class rank, and compares the results to that student’s GPA in his or her first year in college.
“The results show that the best predictors of freshmen GPA are a combination of class rank, SAT critical reading, and SAT writing,” Murphy said.
“Class rank is a better predictor [of first-year GPA],” Talentino said. “It’s a useful measure of a student’s performance, but it certainly shouldn’t be the only one.”
For many years, the SAT was considered the “gold standard,” Talentino said. Many large or elite universities have an SAT cutoff and applications are not even looked at if students don’t have good enough scores.
“Putting that aside is what makes this policy beneficial,” she said. “We read every essay and recommendation and conduct many interviews so we can look at the big picture.”
Admissions counselor Mallory Wood will soon begin to update web pages and e-mail prospective students to inform them of the changes.
“We’ve always told students that SATs are never used as the number one factor in the admissions decision,” Wood said. Now that the statement is official, she noted that students at college fairs have responded positively.
“I think they’re pretty thrilled when I tell them the added pressure of SAT scores is not something they’ll need to worry about,” she said.
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