Voluntourism trips

I went to a school with a flat grading system and I always felt it advantaged the suck-ups who curried favor to get recommendations and people who did a lot of extracurriculars.

Anonymous wrote:The code will be evident--if you don't submit test scores, the presumption will be that you performed poorly. Sad but true.

I agree in other years but this year is different. Kids desparetely want to take the tests and can't.

Anonymous wrote:Essays and recommendations will be more important factors than they are now.

Kids cheat with essays. They have their friends/siblings/parents write them. Teacher recs? Sure, but teachers write a lot of recommendations, and have to balance them among all their other job responsibilities, and it’s not quite fair to ask them to play god.

The code will be evident--if you don't submit test scores, the presumption will be that you performed poorly. Sad but true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, an outstanding SAT will always matter. Or some testing. AP Subject Test, something. Test Optional just allows the University more flexibility in meeting their diversity goals ... or any of the goals they wish. Less accountability for their decisions re: admits.

+1. The key is the word "optional". While schools are moving that way, the students who really want to get in will take the test and submit if their scores are good. The same already holds true for Princeton vis-a-vis the SAT II tests. It "highly recommends" submitted two of them but it is not required. So students of course work very hard to get 800s on the subject matter tests and submit them.

The subject line is "So if there is no SAT..." How can you take the SAT if there is no SAT? A million kids right now don't have a score on either test.

Essays and recommendations will be more important factors than they are now.

Anonymous wrote:But they don’t take the same classes. (So similar gpa’s are not in fact the same. ) Course rigor rules, and it’s easy to identify and differentiate.

Most students applying to the best schools take the most rigorous classes. How do you differentiate?

I have no idea how schools plan to pick what students to admit. But we are opting out of any extracurricular rat race. Sounds miserable, and for no pay off.

But they don’t take the same classes. (So similar gpa’s are not in fact the same. ) Course rigor rules, and it’s easy to identify and differentiate.

Just don't be Asian (or claim not to be if you are one).. That alone gets you a 150 point SAT advantage and probably a half point on the GPA.

Anonymous wrote:Oh, an outstanding SAT will always matter. Or some testing. AP Subject Test, something. Test Optional just allows the University more flexibility in meeting their diversity goals ... or any of the goals they wish. Less accountability for their decisions re: admits.

+1. The key is the word "optional". While schools are moving that way, the students who really want to get in will take the test and submit if their scores are good. The same already holds true for Princeton vis-a-vis the SAT II tests. It "highly recommends" submitted two of them but it is not required. So students of course work very hard to get 800s on the subject matter tests and submit them.

The degree to which you can claim victimhood of one form or another will be key.

Oh, an outstanding SAT will always matter. Or some testing. AP Subject Test, something. Test Optional just allows the University more flexibility in meeting their diversity goals ... or any of the goals they wish. Less accountability for their decisions re: admits.

Half of the graduating seniors at our public school have all As. Most have taken the exact same classes. Now you have hundreds of kids from even one school with the same academic credentials.

I worry that this will lead to unbelievable pressure on kids to perform on extracurriculars. They'll need to do all sorts of extra research, volunteering, etc.
They'll have to invent things, play instruments from birth (a little late for that), play travel sports 24/7, etc.
That is if they're not
-first generation minorities
-wealthy donors