Every few weeks, tens of thousands of high school students nervously file into classrooms to take the dreaded SAT. The test, which dates back to 1901, is designed to measure critical thinking skills that are essential for college success. For the class of 2012, Georgetown’s median SAT was approximately 1420 (out of 1600), placing it in the 96th percentile nationally. Georgetown students perform well on the SAT, and the University stands out as one of the few colleges and universities that strongly encourages students to take three SAT II subject tests.
But Georgetown’s emphasis on standardized testing is harmful to both the University and prospective students. Georgetown should follow in the footsteps of Wake Forest, Bowdoin, Smith, Bard, Middlebury, and other highly regarded institutions of higher learning that have recognized the limitations of the SAT. It’s time to phase out the SAT and make the test optional for applicants to the class of 2014.
The SAT has serious problems that should cause admissions officers to question its efficacy. Students’ ability to take the exam an unlimited number of times dilutes its effectiveness as a measure of aptitude and rewards higher-income students who can afford costly tutoring. Private tutors and instructors can have a dramatic impact on students’ SAT scores, to the detriment of their peers who come from more modest economic backgrounds.
In addition to perpetuating an unfair system, the SAT is outdated as an effective predictor of college success. Researchers at the University of California’s Center for Studies in Higher Education spent six years analyzing 125,000 students and concluded that the test was a poor predictor of academic performance once students arrived on campuses. Even more troubling, the National Center for Fair and Open Testing has concluded, “there are still gender and racial gaps in their SAT scores.” The Center found that male SAT scores are, on average, twenty points higher than those of their female counterparts, and minority students’ scores 200 points lower than those of white students. And who would be willing to assert that white males have more advanced critical reasoning skills than women or members of minority groups?
By removing the SAT, Georgetown could increase its appeal and broaden its applicant pool. After Bates made the SAT optional, its applicant pool increased by 41 percent. Bates’ 20-year study on the effect of its SAT policy showed no statistical difference in graduation rates between students who submitted standardized test scores and those who did not. Georgetown should heed the advice of distinguished academic and educator Richard Atkinson, the former President of the University of California system. In a 2001 address, he recommended that the UC system drop the SAT, announcing that, “students should be judged on the basis of their actual achievements, not on ill-defined notions of aptitude.”
The removal of the SAT from Georgetown’s application process would give students an opportunity to focus on more meaningful activities in high school and remove some of the stress from the application process. Sadly, many bright students are simply unable to perform well in a high-pressure, standardized testing environment. We should give these students the same opportunity to attend Georgetown as those students who thrive in such a setting. By removing the SAT from the admissions process, Georgetown would signal that it wants to focus on the most important reflection of educational achievement—high school academic performance—and attract more students who are passionate about certain school subjects or activities, not simply proficient at manipulating the SAT’s idiocyncracies.
