Brown reinstating SATs/ACT requirements

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:colleges will start making announcements for class of 2026 soon to give current sophomores plenty of time to prep.

Current juniors will be the last class to have real test optional options.

Brown and Dartmouth are implementing them for class of 2029 (currently juniors)...no options there. At least Yale offers flexibility on the types of tests accepted.

HS class of 2025 should be exempted from these requirements giving the timing of the announcements.

That's silly. Surely kids (and parents, and counselors) knew that schools were reviewing the policies and considering going back to test-required. Anyway, March-August before senior year is a fine and traditional time to take the exam. (Really, are there kids who never even take the exams because of TO policies? I assumed almost all took the exams and decided not to submit based on lower-than-hoped-for scores.)

Your kid has over 7 months to take the test even if class of 2025. Some even take October of senior year.

Come on--they obviously took it once and did bad. Or took a mock at their school and figured they would have to do too much 'work' and studying to raise some points.

We already know that. Virtually every kid in the DMV takes it at least once. Every HS in the DMV suggests this. My kid is a sophomore and their school already provided free mock ACT and mock SATs.

IF they kid didn't ---well---they already weeded themselves out.

This! Every parent here fighting for TO with pretend reasons really does have a kid who didn't do well in the tests. A good number of them are spending multiple hundreds an hour to get that score to go up to that magic 1350 number. Of course, they'd all like for the SATs to disappear

Wow you know what EVERY parent is thinking? What a skill!

No, that's not what every parent is thinking. We only ever planned to take the SAT if the schools targeting it required it. Luckily, as of right now, none do. We also never took a "mock" test b/c the test would have been paper when we did so and the actual test digital (different tests).

We simply chose not to spend the time or money on these tests unless we had to.

Why are California people on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you listen to podcasts , you knew Brown was going to do this two months ago.

There are no other T20 schools that have indicated that they are planning to do this (as of yet).

Princton? Emory? Georgetown?

Emory is TO for the next application cycle. Princeton is TO thru fall 2025.

Princeton is TO through the class of 2026 at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess says that publics in red states will be test required. California and others like it will be TO, with pretty much only California test blind.

For the private schools, those schools who had high average SAT scores before will be the ones who will go test required. So Johns Hopkins, Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt, WashU, BC, BU, NEU, Tufts, RPI, NYU, GWU, Miami, Wake, Tulane. Schools like American will continue to be test optional. I bet SMU and the like continue to be test optional.

For SLACs,

Wake was test option before Covid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Senior kicked butt on standardized tests...of course, it's the year after him they come back.

Same here, but his grades were mediocre. Based on his outcomes, I think colleges have already started implementing Test-preferred policies.

I am so annoyed by these uninformed posts. You have no understanding of why they are reinstating. It's not so kids who "kick butt" on standardized tests can get in over others who people like you perceive of unworthy because they have a lower score. It's so people who do really well (1350+) submit their scores and show schools that they are capable of doing the work, despite a crappy education. This is not to let more 1600 students over potential 1400 students. Those of you with the high scores are actually at an even great disadvantage with test required. I can't believe how obtuse you all are to not understand this.

That's also simplistic. I think the test requirement will likely help two groups - (1) students from underprivileged schools/backgrounds who score relatively high (but not in the 35+/1500+ range), especially compared to the average score at their school and (2) students with a privileged background (private school, socioeconomic status) who score extremely high but were competing with TO privileged applicants from their own school.

This. The rich white kids were never competing agains the URM/first generation kids in the first place. Tests allow the admissions officers to find the most capable out of groups 1 *and* 2.

You all are so completely wrong about this. Most top schools could not care less whether an admitted student has a 1600 or a 1420. Either score shows the student is capable of doing the work. I bet there are thousands of scenarios where students look very similar on paper, with 200 points between SAT scores, and they would still take a lower score for a variety of reasons: passion, major, demographics, essays. Standardized test scores provide one really strong data point, but if they were all that mattered, then all these schools would have 1550 averages. But when even with TO they don't, you should really try harder to understand why they're eliminating TO. It's not to be "more fair" to those with high scores. It's to find the strong students in the lower range who were previously too worried about submitting it. Now, lower tier schools who only worry about ranking (looking at you Colby), may continue to have a higher baselin. But the true, strong schools (let's just look at Georgetown, since they never went TO), will continue their holistic admissions and keep the scores at a reasonable level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you listen to podcasts , you knew Brown was going to do this two months ago.

There are no other T20 schools that have indicated that they are planning to do this (as of yet).

Princton? Emory? Georgetown?

Georgetown was ALWAYS test required. All sittings required

In 2020 only it was TO actually, at Georgetown, though apparently 92% of applicants did put test scores on their applications. They had obviously taken them in 2019 before testing centers were closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This! Every parent here fighting for TO with pretend reasons really does have a kid who didn't do well in the tests. A good number of them are spending multiple hundreds an hour to get that score to go up to that magic 1350 number. Of course, they'd all like for the SATs to disappear

What makes 1350 a magic number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From the email:

Brown will continue to offer its Early Decision option, which is attractive to prospective students and has contributed to efforts to enroll an undergraduate class that is both highly qualified and diverse.

Starting with next year’s application cycle (effective for the Class of 2029), Brown will reinstate the requirement that applicants for first-year admission submit standardized tests scores (the SAT or ACT, except in the rare circumstance when these tests are not available to a student). This will accompany enhanced communications to students and school counselors emphasizing that test scores are interpreted in the context of a student’s background and educational opportunities.

Current practices for applicants with family connections — including “legacies” and children of faculty and staff — will remain unchanged while we continue to consider a range of complex questions raised by the committee and seek more input from our community.

I think this is a good thing. It just makes the application process more fair in my mind. All schools should do this. Otherwise it is too much emphasis on GPA's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you listen to podcasts , you knew Brown was going to do this two months ago.

There are no other T20 schools that have indicated that they are planning to do this (as of yet).

Princton? Emory? Georgetown?

Emory is TO for the next application cycle. Princeton is TO thru fall 2025.

Princeton is TO through the class of 2026 at least.

Yes. But at Ivies over 80-85% of all applicants ARE submitting scores. So--they are test aware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Senior kicked butt on standardized tests...of course, it's the year after him they come back.

Same here, but his grades were mediocre. Based on his outcomes, I think colleges have already started implementing Test-preferred policies.

I am so annoyed by these uninformed posts. You have no understanding of why they are reinstating. It's not so kids who "kick butt" on standardized tests can get in over others who people like you perceive of unworthy because they have a lower score. It's so people who do really well (1350+) submit their scores and show schools that they are capable of doing the work, despite a crappy education. This is not to let more 1600 students over potential 1400 students. Those of you with the high scores are actually at an even great disadvantage with test required. I can't believe how obtuse you all are to not understand this.

That's also simplistic. I think the test requirement will likely help two groups - (1) students from underprivileged schools/backgrounds who score relatively high (but not in the 35+/1500+ range), especially compared to the average score at their school and (2) students with a privileged background (private school, socioeconomic status) who score extremely high but were competing with TO privileged applicants from their own school.

This. The rich white kids were never competing agains the URM/first generation kids in the first place. Tests allow the admissions officers to find the most capable out of groups 1 *and* 2.

You all are so completely wrong about this. Most top schools could not care less whether an admitted student has a 1600 or a 1420. Either score shows the student is capable of doing the work. I bet there are thousands of scenarios where students look very similar on paper, with 200 points between SAT scores, and they would still take a lower score for a variety of reasons: passion, major, demographics, essays. Standardized test scores provide one really strong data point, but if they were all that mattered, then all these schools would have 1550 averages. But when even with TO they don't, you should really try harder to understand why they're eliminating TO. It's not to be "more fair" to those with high scores. It's to find the strong students in the lower range who were previously too worried about submitting it. Now, lower tier schools who only worry about ranking (looking at you Colby), may continue to have a higher baselin. But the true, strong schools (let's just look at Georgetown, since they never went TO), will continue their holistic admissions and keep the scores at a reasonable level.

I disagree, having gone through the cycle with my senior last year, the kids with high scores and high grades did best with admissions.

[Anonymous]

I dont have any sympathy for families who pretended like this wasn't always a likely outcome and now feel "out of time". That was a gamble and you're not out of time. So do the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont have any sympathy for families who pretended like this wasn't always a likely outcome and now feel "out of time". That was a gamble and you're not out of time. So do the work.

+1. Doesn't make sense to me that someone wouldn't plan for this possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This! Every parent here fighting for TO with pretend reasons really does have a kid who didn't do well in the tests. A good number of them are spending multiple hundreds an hour to get that score to go up to that magic 1350 number. Of course, they'd all like for the SATs to disappear

What makes 1350 a magic number?

It means you are in the top 10% of test takers. Not sure when it became magical, but that was the # for “average” kids to meet or exceed pre-covid.