ERIC Number: EJ798968
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Dec
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-127X
EISSN: N/A
Colleges Making SAT Optional as Admissions Requirement
Gilroy, Marilyn
Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, v73 n4 p35-39 Dec 2007
This article reports that more colleges are dropping the SAT as a requirement for admission and, in many cases, these institutions are attracting a larger and more diverse pool of applicants. According to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), 740 schools have made the SATs optional. The list includes some of the nation's most highly regarded liberal arts colleges. It also includes large state systems such as the California State University campuses, where tests are used only when minimum GPA or class rank requirements are not met, and the University of Texas, which admits high percentages of students without regard to their ACT or SAT scores because of the state's "Top 10 Percent" rule. The trend toward making the SAT optional started when Bates College dropped the test in 1984. Since then, a slow but steady momentum has been building for deemphasizing the SAT in admissions, especially among liberal arts colleges.
Descriptors: Admission Criteria, College Admission, College Entrance Examinations, Achievement Tests, Criterion Referenced Tests, Program Termination, Test Validity, Trend Analysis, National Competency Tests
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: SAT (College Admission Test); Stanford Achievement Tests
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A