Reply to Which elite schools emphasize test scores?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Which elite schools emphasize test scores?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote]Actually what Dean J says is that GPA is meaningless as a comparison across students who are coming from different schools because of the different ways those are calculated. They don't say that GPA is meaningless and in fact I got the impression that they care quite a bit about GPA.[/quote]

What standardized test scores do is they allow an imperfect but standardized way to compare preparedness from various schools with different grading systems.  Since grade inflation is so rampant, a 3.3 from one school might be really good (B+ average) and another school might be considered awful.  And then there are always those kids who go to underperforming schools out of lack of opportunity but are just as talented, motivated, and prepared as other students from more rigorous backgrounds--but their transcript might not be substantially different from someone who got As just because of the lack of competition.  Once you get 30+ on the ACT, you are talking about the top 95% of scorers in the country--obviously these kids are prepared for a rigorous college.  But if someone has a 4.0 and a 23, then perhaps it might flag grade inflation and lack of preparedness, or at least say something about the rigor of their high school program.

The same is true of graduate school.  DH and his sisters all went to a regional state school for reasons of affordability.  DH got a full ride--and probably would have been competitive elsewhere, but decided to go close to home--but got the most out of his experience taking a rigorous course load and being mentored by faculty.  When he applied to graduate school, his GRE scores were completely in the range you would expect for someone applying to competitive graduate programs.  His sister, however wanted to go to law school and was a sociology major with a 4.0.  She literally failed (i.e. got a 120, the 0% percentile) the LSAT.  You would think that an A student would have at least been able to hit the national average.  This indicates something about the rigor of her program and her preparedness as a student.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics