April 19, 2024
By Anastasia Loutroutzis
Webmaster
Elite colleges and universities, including Brown University, Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University, are reintroducing standardized testing to their admissions criteria.
English teacher Dr. DiMaggio, who is an SAT tutor and taught an SAT prep class during lunchtime to juniors, said without standardized testing, it is difficult to compare students because coursework varies between high schools.
“A standardized test lets colleges know how students across the country compare,” DiMaggio said. “Students often have over-inflated GPAs that are not necessarily an indication of whether students can handle the rigor of colleges they are interested in.”
DiMaggio said she agrees with the decision of elite colleges and universities to bring back the standardized test requirement.
“The benefits of reinstating standardized testing requirements are that students will be placed into colleges at which they have the intellectual ability to be successful,” DiMaggio said.
Despite her support of standardized testing in college admissions, DiMaggio said it puts low-income students at a disadvantage.
“Students’ success level with testing is often correlated to their socioeconomic area,” DiMaggio said. “[Low-income] students do not have the same resources [like private tutors and quality education] as students from higher-income areas.”
Junior Lucy Cardona, who will be taking the SAT on May 4, said standardized tests do not accurately measure students’ abilities.
“Some people do not do as well in testing environments but thrive in social and more qualitative assessments compared to the linear measurement of testing,” Cardona said.
She said colleges should remain test optional and assign more weight to community service and personal essays.
“I feel torn between colleges’ decision to bring back the test requirement because, without it, it allowed me to focus on other parts of my high school life.”
Cardona said even though her first-choice college, the New York School of Visual Arts in New York City, is test-optional, she intends to have an SAT tutor.
“It is very stressful knowing I only get one chance to show what I have learned,” Cardona said. “Even if [SATs] are optional, they can still be judged and might give me an advantage for getting chosen.”
Junior Ryan McKerry, who wants to attend the University of Pittsburgh, said he recognizes the reasons why elite colleges and universities are bringing back the SAT requirement.
“Benefits of reinstating standardized testing requirements could be providing a standardized benchmark for comparison between all high schoolers, potentially reducing reliance on other applicable measures and ensuring a more level playing field for all [students] when going into college,” McKerry said.
He said taking the SAT is burdensome for students.
“I feel torn between colleges’ decision to bring back the test requirement because, without it, it allowed me to focus on other parts of my high school life,” McKerry said. “Having the requirement now puts more pressure on me to do [well on] the SAT.”
McKerry said colleges should prioritize aspects of the application that best reflect a student’s potential for success at their prospective postsecondary school.
“Elite universities [should] continue to evaluate applicants holistically by considering a range of factors beyond test scores, such as extracurricular activities, essays and letters of recommendation, while still using standardized tests as one data point,” said McKerry.
