Rating TO student success

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See, the thing is, YOU have no idea how TO students do compared to the ones who submitted. It’s time to stop pretending the SAT/ACT is a proxy for innate ability or talent. They aren’t.

OP here. There are lots of reports that TO kids struggle, but then the difference suddenly disappears. Maybe the kids miraculously makeup for 12 years of shortfall in a semester or two, but it’s more likely others things are at work. For example, do these kids eventually choose easier majors and/or ones that they otherwise would not have preferred just to get through school? Do the schools follow the GPAs of such kids and proactively reach out to them with aid? Are professors aware of kids with challenges and provide more mentoring?

Look, if Harvard truly feels that a kid with a 1200 SAT can do the work as well as a kid with a 1550, why did they start the tests in the first place? My guess is, they don’t.

Perhaps they think 1200 vs 1500 is significant but not 1400 vs 1550.

The 1400s were getting in before test optional, the 1200s were not. If anything, it’s the kids who are scoring in the 1400s that are hurt most as there is confusion as to whether they should be test optional or not, and test optional kids get in at a lower rate at nearly all top schools.

[Anonymous]

New to this...what is "TO"? 😬

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who works in college admissions, I don’t worry so much about the students with high GPA’s who go test optional. They tend to be hardworking students who will continue to work hard in college. The ones I do worry about are the kids with B averages who score below 1100/23 on the SAT/ACT and apply TO—and absolutely struggle at mid-tier schools.

For the B student applying TO, given that a score is NOT reported, where are you getting the 1100/23 SAT & ACT data point from? Inferred based on GPA?

Either way, the highly selective colleges aren't accepting many B average students, TO or not.

Why do folks here think highly selective colleges are the only ones in the world or the only ones worth talking about. For someone who emphasizes highly selective colleges, you need to read more carefully. The poster said B students with low scores struggle at mid tier colleges. I know it’s a shocker, but there are more than 50 colleges in this country and kids —even kids from the DC area—attend them.