Reply to TJ Falls to 14th in the Nation Per US News

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why are people making graphs suggesting essays are something other than merit?[/quote]

I'm not commenting on the graphs, but regarding essays:

The essays may convey some notion of merit, but it is a far more ambiguous notion of merit.  Two different evaluators may score the same essay quite differently.  Furthermore, an essay-writing evaluation would also be heavily influenced the writer's ability to sway the reader with their writing, a skill which some might not consider to be of most prominent importance for admissions to a STEM school.  Finally, essay scores would be influenced by native English speaking ability, which is not a metric of merit.[/quote]

In other words, it is much more difficult to “crack the code” on essay writing. 😄[/quote]

IMO using an essay is not in and of itself a bad thing, but using it as the main factor for admission is a bad idea.  Better to have other factors (e.g. test scores) so that you have some way to know if an especially low or high scoring essay is an outlier.

On the other hand, I have no idea why some posters here are so dead-set against tests as a measure of merit.  Tests are, inherently, the name you give to the tool you use to assess something.  If you go to a doctor and you want to find out whether you have an illness, you take a test.  Some tests are better than others at measuring what they are supposed to measure - you wouldn't give someone an arithmetic test to find out if they have the mathematical aptitude to take calculus, but it's silly to think that there is no test that can be used to figure it out.  Does it make sense to use multiple tests in case someone has a "bad day" or has exam stress?  Maybe.  I don't know what the right formula is, but it's short-sighted to think there isn't one.

The thing I do agree with is that people shouldn't be penalized on admissions for not having money.  I think the solution is to find tests that [i]everyone[/i] can prep for, rather than ones that you have to pay a lot of money to prep for.  Paying a lot of money should always be an option rather than a necessity.[/quote]

Tests are racist.  That's why.[/quote]

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