Testing and College: Keep Your Options Open
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
Last month, Christopher Newport University announced that it was making college entrance testing optional for students with strong grade point averages. More than 740 institutions across the country, including some of the most selective, have now moved away from an emphasis on testing in considering students for admission. It begs the question: “Why don’t the others follow suit?”
Well, in point of fact, the number of “test optional” colleges and universities has grown rapidly over the last ten years as more places are publicly acknowledging what their own validity studies have been demonstrating for years: testing has a limited—at best—impact as a diagnostic in the admission process. Ironically, that is the purpose of the test—to predict who can do the work academically in the first year of college. The reality is that most students (80-90%) applying to most colleges have chosen places where, given the chance, they could do the work, a fact that is borne out in the academic credentials they submit.
So, why do many institutions still require test results? One reason is the need for efficiency. At many schools that deal with overwhelming numbers of applicants, it is certainly more efficient to screen candidates based on an index that includes grade point average and test results (not to be mistaken for a determination of who can do the work!). Test scores provide a convenient solution in that an institution’s ability to report higher scores supports the common misperception that test results are reflective of intelligence. The higher the scores, the better are your chances in such environments. Rather than a meaningful diagnostic—the rationale behind the SAT/ACT—test results have become competitive credentials.
If you would rather not get caught up in the emotional frenzy that often consumes students (and their parents) with regard to testing, be comforted in the knowledge that you have options. The 740+ institutions with a reduced emphasis on testing are all listed on the following website:
The way I see it, the colleges and universities that appear on the FairTest.org list are places that will value you as a candidate for what you have done well in high school as well as the promise you exhibit with regard to future success. I saw this personally when my institution went test optional nearly 20 years ago. That decision was a point of liberation for my colleagues and me. Free from the tyranny of numbers, we could focus on the breadth of credentials in making decisions about young people whom we valued most. Isn’t this the sort of solution that makes sense as you look for a college home that is a good fit for you?
We’ll talk more about testing in this space throughout the year. It will also be the featured conversation in the December 19 installment of the “Straight Talk About College Admission” teleseminar series.
