If all testing goes away, how will students know where to apply?

[Anonymous]

Aren’t test scores the number one way for students to understand if they qualify for a university? Without them, how will a student choose? GPA can’t be used because high schools use different scales. Course rigor also varies between schools. Do the number of AP classes and their scores become the new placement proxy? It seems challenging to benchmark ECs and many of the most selective schools don’t care about them unless you’re a recruiter athlete. Right now, it seems like both colleges and students are betting that testing does NOT go away so that both can select each other. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Nothing against APs since my kid took over a dozen, but using APs is far worse for students in small communities whose school don't have the funding or the critical mass to offer lots of APs.
Makes the SAT look much fairer by comparison.

[Anonymous]

Don't you know what kid of student your kid is? Take a look a the classes they're taking, how they're doing, how it compares to the rigor of the other kids. How have they distinguished themselves outside of the classroom? I think you know where your kid belongs. If it makes you feel better, apply to some Ivies, too.

[Anonymous]

IT’s not going away. Look at the EA results for UVA

[Anonymous]

If all testing goes away for good, everyone will be applying everywhere. Absolutely everywhere.

It will be fun.

[Anonymous]

Kids and admissions will be told where the kids falls in their class--ranking or percentile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If all testing goes away for good, everyone will be applying everywhere. Absolutely everywhere.

It will be fun.

+1. OP, I agree with your perspective. This admission cycle is the tip of the iceberg. Test blind advocates should be careful what they wish for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't you know what kid of student your kid is? Take a look a the classes they're taking, how they're doing, how it compares to the rigor of the other kids. How have they distinguished themselves outside of the classroom? I think you know where your kid belongs. If it makes you feel better, apply to some Ivies, too.

Sure, college rankings are “obvious” now, and perhaps Ivies will always be tops, but over the years there has been a lot of movement for schools ranked lower, especially 30-100. How will potential students understand these changes 10-15 years from now without some objective measures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids and admissions will be told where the kids falls in their class--ranking or percentile.

I think this is right. All those schools that stopped ranking students are going to have to start again. And/or kids will apply to a much wider range of schools because they aren't sure where they will get in, which will make it harder for colleges to predict yield so they will rely more on waitlists so kids will apply to even more schools. The craziness of this year's application results will just continue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids and admissions will be told where the kids falls in their class--ranking or percentile.

I think this is right. All those schools that stopped ranking students are going to have to start again. And/or kids will apply to a much wider range of schools because they aren't sure where they will get in, which will make it harder for colleges to predict yield so they will rely more on waitlists so kids will apply to even more schools. The craziness of this year's application results will just continue.

But this doesn’t give a high school to high school comparison like a standardized test. Is the next step to rank high schools too? If so, the relative resources a high school has will become the next ground for contention. So, TJ gets ranked number one in academics, but it gets a demerit for too many fancy resources. So, on a re-leveled playing field, TJ gets ranked 10th, or something like that. So, a student’s “score” is their student percentile ranking x their school ranking? Can’t you imagine all the more pressure to take AP classes and all the b*tching about grades? This would be a nightmare. I would rather keep the current testing system and include a curve for certain socioeconomic (not racial) groups.

[Anonymous]

Test scores don’t tell schools much. I hope they go away.

GPA does tell a ton no matter how rigorous your school is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids and admissions will be told where the kids falls in their class--ranking or percentile.

I think this is right. All those schools that stopped ranking students are going to have to start again. And/or kids will apply to a much wider range of schools because they aren't sure where they will get in, which will make it harder for colleges to predict yield so they will rely more on waitlists so kids will apply to even more schools. The craziness of this year's application results will just continue.

But this doesn’t give a high school to high school comparison like a standardized test. Is the next step to rank high schools too? If so, the relative resources a high school has will become the next ground for contention. So, TJ gets ranked number one in academics, but it gets a demerit for too many fancy resources. So, on a re-leveled playing field, TJ gets ranked 10th, or something like that. So, a student’s “score” is their student percentile ranking x their school ranking? Can’t you imagine all the more pressure to take AP classes and all the b*tching about grades? This would be a nightmare. I would rather keep the current testing system and include a curve for certain socioeconomic (not racial) groups.

+1 this is essentially what the College Board has done with their "Landscape" tool for colleges to understand the context of the school community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't you know what kid of student your kid is? Take a look a the classes they're taking, how they're doing, how it compares to the rigor of the other kids. How have they distinguished themselves outside of the classroom? I think you know where your kid belongs. If it makes you feel better, apply to some Ivies, too.

Sure, college rankings are “obvious” now, and perhaps Ivies will always be tops, but over the years there has been a lot of movement for schools ranked lower, especially 30-100. How will potential students understand these changes 10-15 years from now without some objective measures?

Maybe they don’t need one since most colleges are great places and they can pick on personal criteria and not rankings, which are always subjective anyway.

Maybe the whole process would be better and easier and less stressful and more rewarding and more successful without this artificial meaningless rat race based on numbers from unrelated categories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't you know what kid of student your kid is? Take a look a the classes they're taking, how they're doing, how it compares to the rigor of the other kids. How have they distinguished themselves outside of the classroom? I think you know where your kid belongs. If it makes you feel better, apply to some Ivies, too.

Many parents overestimate how competitive their child will be in college admissions, especially those going through the process for the first time with their kids. (College selectivity is very different now than it was 30 years ago when they applied.) Without test scores to match up with potential schools to apply to, I would expect many students to overshoot and have insufficient safeties and possibly even matches on their list and could end up being shut out. It's really hard for parents to understand how their child's ECs, GPAs (especially in schools with grade inflation) and other criteria compare with the tens of thousands of other kids that will be applying to the same schools, especially if they haven't gone through it before recently.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think this is a significant issue. With no score, a kid with 6-8 APs and a GPA anywhere from (loosely!!) 3.8-4.0 cannot guess what their chances are like at any school in the top 50, beyond the obvious that a top 10 will be a bigger reach. The GPA range is too narrow, and it is compounded by the fact that GPAs are not standardized and cannot be equated across high schools. High school students will struggle to understand how they compare, where they fit - this is already happening with class of 2021, thus the increase in apps to hedge one's bets.