Per NYT, Yale now “test flexible”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say make the kids submit all their test scores, like Georgetown does. Do away with superscoring. Colleges can elect to consider whatever they like, but at least they have an accurate full picture.

Colleges can also elect to be TO or Test Blind. Many do feel they have an accurate full picture, even without test scores. There are some who were moving to Test Blind well before covid and will never change, as they feel they get the best class this method

Never say never, test blind works poorly in times of massive grade inflation.

WPI started moving towards test blind in 2012. for Fall 2022 they officially went Test Blind. The year my DD was applying, when it would have helped her (test scores were at 85% for the school). She got accepted with good merit, but might have gotten more if they had been TO.
Their UW GPA is 3.9 and they don't seem to feel there is any reason to change.
But I agree, many will not go Test Blind. The point is, it is the college's choice. No matter how much parents of high scoring kids hate it, the school gets to choose how they select students

[Anonymous]

What does it mean that they take SAT/ACT or they will take AP scores?

How many AP scores are sufficient?

Sorry if I missed this..

[Anonymous]

To those who said Vandy is following suit, they already announced they will stay test optional through 2027.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But but my kid is not good at taking tests 🤣

there's a word for that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those who said Vandy is following suit, they already announced they will stay test optional through 2027.

You think that isn’t reversible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where’s the poster who always screeches about test optional being here to stay?

probably the one screeching “you’re not an admissions officer, you know nothing!”

they probably also love the honors for all model and all the other BS dumbing down public education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where’s the poster who always screeches about test optional being here to stay?

Frantically searching for a test prep tutor

[Anonymous]

It will make the average scores schools report go back to a normal level. 1350 will revert to being a very good score. 1200s will revert to being a pretty good score. It’s so skewed right now with ridiculously high average scores since only 1/3 of applicants submit. Of course the schools like to say their average SAT is a 1458 but we all know it’s complete BS. Except the kids, who are mortified they can’t get into that range bc 95%+ of kids don’t. Bring back the testing reqs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It will make the average scores schools report go back to a normal level. 1350 will revert to being a very good score. 1200s will revert to being a pretty good score. It’s so skewed right now with ridiculously high average scores since only 1/3 of applicants submit. Of course the schools like to say their average SAT is a 1458 but we all know it’s complete BS. Except the kids, who are mortified they can’t get into that range bc 95%+ of kids don’t. Bring back the testing reqs.

You are out of touch, scores have gone up over the past two decades. 1400 and up is a good score, lower than that is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say make the kids submit all their test scores, like Georgetown does. Do away with superscoring. Colleges can elect to consider whatever they like, but at least they have an accurate full picture.

What I always ask: Why do YOU get to decide? Don’t you think he professionals in admissions who run the colleges know better than you do?

I personally like test scores and think they are valuable, but I don’t kid myself that they are absolute predictors of success and I certainly don’t think I know more than the professionals. They get to decide how to best build the class they need to meet their goals. Like every job. That’s how it should be.

DP. This is one of the dumbest takes on DCUM that pops up in all sorts of areas. This is an anonymous forum, we get to opine and discuss. And we are also big stakeholders in the process so it’s natural that we would have relatively informed opinions. Not sure why you are so literal minded as to think PP expressing their informed opinion means they somehow don’t understand that the school makes the decision ultimately?

Lol... so YOUR opinion is fine but mine is dumb?

I'll let that speak for itself.

No one is debating that they GET to decide. You are suggesting you know better than they do what is best, and I am suggesting the professionals know WAY better than you.

I'll stick with that too.

So your argument is basically that nobody can have a useful opinion on a policy unless they are directly in charge of that policy. Do I have that right?

Why do you keep asking this? Do I have to keep reposting? I say the position "I say make the kids submit all their test scores" is misinformed, and that the poster can't know whether that is the right decision for a college or not. It's not a complicated concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say make the kids submit all their test scores, like Georgetown does. Do away with superscoring. Colleges can elect to consider whatever they like, but at least they have an accurate full picture.

What I always ask: Why do YOU get to decide? Don’t you think he professionals in admissions who run the colleges know better than you do?

I personally like test scores and think they are valuable, but I don’t kid myself that they are absolute predictors of success and I certainly don’t think I know more than the professionals. They get to decide how to best build the class they need to meet their goals. Like every job. That’s how it should be.

"professional" doesn't mean "good" , especially in an unskilled industry with no qualifications required for the job.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully most follow suit. Scoring a 1450 should not be a "do not submit".

Anecdotally, I heard at our school that even with NYU, NEU the 1400's were not being submitted.

[Anonymous]

Any predictions on whether Harvard and Princeton will follow suit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most high schools are now set up to reward diligence and persistence more than a full grasp of the material. I've seen programs that give kids 10 or more chances to get an answer right without any grading penalty. That's fine because diligence and persistence should be rewarded, but if universities want to figure out if kids grasp the material at a certain level, they must rely on testing.

Diligence and persistence are good because they get results.
Choosing people for educational opportunities based on being slightly ahead in development at a young age (or being "redshirted"), aso and known as "people who need it less", is stupid.
Yes, tests are a decent way to measure results (but the tests we have aren't necessarily good tests outside of narrow domains).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The irony. My senior --5s on all APs, 36 ACT. The year scores don't matter.

I have a sophomore--hope he is a high test scorer too. lol

Things that could help always seem to change after the fact for us.

Everybody is really missing the point here. The point of reinstating scores is not to let in more high-scoring white kids from upper middleclass suburbs. In fact, it is the opposite. Reinstating required testing will allow the average test scores to go back down to reasonable levels for admission. Understand: these schools do not admit students on a sliding scale, starting with the perfect scores and going down from there. They are simply looking at test scores to ensure that students whose grades and schools do not give a complete picture can submit a test score to indicate whether they are capable of doing the work. For almost every single school in America a 1400 or even a 1350 (gasp) is plenty high. So now, underprileged students can submit those scores. During test optional, they weren't, so they were being left out. This change DOES NOT advantage high test scorers. And that's a good thing!

Right. Test optional is bad. Test mandatory with intelligent evaluation of scores is good.
It's sad that the alleged professionals can't figure out very simple ideas that require thinking for 10 minutes, until they've spent years making a hash of everything.