Four AU staff members attended a Seattle conference in late September during which Harvard University Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons presented the results of a study that showed the SAT is an imprecise indicator of college success.
The study was meant to critically assess the way colleges implement test scores in their admissions processes. Admissions staffers at the conference were concerned about the possibility that not all test-takers have the same level of opportunity to do well on the test, according to The New York Times.
High-quality test prep and other opportunities unavailable to lower-income students makes the test biased towards affluent families and schools, according to research results from the University of California president's office.
Fitzsimmons encouraged admissions staffs to review their policies in an effort to keep unfair discrimination out of the process. He also suggested schools become more transparent with their policies and share more statistical information with each other in order to remove myth and misunderstanding about the test. He hopes more colleges will become test-optional in the future, the Times reported.
Kristen Schlicker, AU's acting associate director of undergraduate admissions and one of the four AU admissions staff who attended the conference, said that AU considers standardized test scores as being less important than grade point average and extra-curricular activities.
However, admissions to AU's Honors program are primarily based on GPA and SAT or ACT scores, according to the Honors Program Web site. Schlicker said she believes that as long as her staff views applications holistically and puts more weight on transcripts and extra-curricular activities, their use of the SAT or ACT scores can remain responsible and non-discriminatory. AU has no immediate plans for becoming test-optional.
Psychologist Jonathan R. Warre's 1972 survey of more than 3,400 college professors found most professors cited motivation as the defining characteristic of their top students, not intelligence. Warre's research was published in Alan Nair's book, "The Reign of ETS: The Corporation That Makes Up Minds."
David Wile, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, sees the value of the SAT as a standard for comparison.
"It can be useful if two people are equally qualified and one person has a better SAT," Wile said.
Elyse Higley, a freshman in the School of International Service, said she saw some of the inequity first-hand.
"It doesn't measure anything but your socioeconomic status," she said. "I've been test-prepping since I was 10 years old."
She said she feels like it was in large part her weekly test prep that produced her high scores.
Despite the support at the conference for the criticisms offered, few schools have made the test optional, though the number is rising across the country, The Times reported.
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