Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of the previous points about test scores and college admissions. Jettisoning the test requirement is going to be judged in the rear view mirror as a very stupid and costly mistake. It’s frankly ludicrous to suggest test scores are anything but the best way to judge kids’ academic abilities coming out of disparate high schools from around the country and the world. The pendulum will swing back to putting a big emphasis on standardized tests but the kids who were screwed this decade will pay the cost - both those who end up at schools where they cannot handle the work load and those whose work and ability should have placed them in more challenging college academic environs. Frankly it’s the former cohort that will pay the highest price and those kids are likely the ones who can least handle it

You wish, but just not true. My kid had a low SAT score and is thriving big time at a much higher ranked school than Colgate. Those tests are inane.

Your personal anecdote is meaningless. Rigorous scientific study has proven that standardized tests are the best predictor of college success. They are the only, just the best. What do you not understand?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of the previous points about test scores and college admissions. Jettisoning the test requirement is going to be judged in the rear view mirror as a very stupid and costly mistake. It’s frankly ludicrous to suggest test scores are anything but the best way to judge kids’ academic abilities coming out of disparate high schools from around the country and the world. The pendulum will swing back to putting a big emphasis on standardized tests but the kids who were screwed this decade will pay the cost - both those who end up at schools where they cannot handle the work load and those whose work and ability should have placed them in more challenging college academic environs. Frankly it’s the former cohort that will pay the highest price and those kids are likely the ones who can least handle it

You wish, but just not true. My kid had a low SAT score and is thriving big time at a much higher ranked school than Colgate. Those tests are inane.

Your personal anecdote is meaningless. Rigorous scientific study has proven that standardized tests are the best predictor of college success. They are the only, just the best. What do you not understand?

Anonymous wrote:Colgate's admission rate this year was about 17% - low, but not quite in Amherst/Williams/Midd territory despite huge increase in applications.
Part of what's driving the spike in numbers at many competitive schools is applications from non-score-reporting applicants who would not previously have applied. And some of these applicants are shotgunning 20, 30+ applications just to see what sticks. Which means, at many schools, accepted students will have more options and yield will trend down. So the decline in admission rates is not linear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of the previous points about test scores and college admissions. Jettisoning the test requirement is going to be judged in the rear view mirror as a very stupid and costly mistake. It’s frankly ludicrous to suggest test scores are anything but the best way to judge kids’ academic abilities coming out of disparate high schools from around the country and the world. The pendulum will swing back to putting a big emphasis on standardized tests but the kids who were screwed this decade will pay the cost - both those who end up at schools where they cannot handle the work load and those whose work and ability should have placed them in more challenging college academic environs. Frankly it’s the former cohort that will pay the highest price and those kids are likely the ones who can least handle it

You wish, but just not true. My kid had a low SAT score and is thriving big time at a much higher ranked school than Colgate. Those tests are inane.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also - the SAT midranges are climbing because the former bottom half of scores isn't being reported anymore. With test optional, most applicants whose scores aren't approaching the 40th percentile rank of Colgate enrolled students, just aren't submitting scores. This is one major reason that applications have increased so much. And when the bottom-to-midrange disappears, the average score climbs, quickly and bigly. It's basic math

This post is worth repeating everyone should read it a 2nd time.

College counselors at my son's school have said this repeatedly. The 25%-75% ranges reported at test optional schools mean very little at this point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also - the SAT midranges are climbing because the former bottom half of scores isn't being reported anymore. With test optional, most applicants whose scores aren't approaching the 40th percentile rank of Colgate enrolled students, just aren't submitting scores. This is one major reason that applications have increased so much. And when the bottom-to-midrange disappears, the average score climbs, quickly and bigly. It's basic math

This post is worth repeating everyone should read it a 2nd time.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of the previous points about test scores and college admissions. Jettisoning the test requirement is going to be judged in the rear view mirror as a very stupid and costly mistake. It’s frankly ludicrous to suggest test scores are anything but the best way to judge kids’ academic abilities coming out of disparate high schools from around the country and the world. The pendulum will swing back to putting a big emphasis on standardized tests but the kids who were screwed this decade will pay the cost - both those who end up at schools where they cannot handle the work load and those whose work and ability should have placed them in more challenging college academic environs. Frankly it’s the former cohort that will pay the highest price and those kids are likely the ones who can least handle it

Anonymous wrote:Also - the SAT midranges are climbing because the former bottom half of scores isn't being reported anymore. With test optional, most applicants whose scores aren't approaching the 40th percentile rank of Colgate enrolled students, just aren't submitting scores. This is one major reason that applications have increased so much. And when the bottom-to-midrange disappears, the average score climbs, quickly and bigly. It's basic math

Anonymous wrote:Colgate says they have benefitted from it, and so does every other school that has found a (perhaps temporary) formula for jacking up the application numbers and driving down the admission rates. But I'm not sure that the new era of test score non-reporting and 25-applications-per-student is really a step in the right direction. MIT has already reverted to test-mandatory. I think other highly selective schools will follow. "Holistic" admissions sounds good in principle, but think about the realities of wading through an extra 10,000 applications at a school the size of Colgate, with about the same staff numbers. Many of those applications will be from kids with very high GPAs; 3.9 - 4.0, but who would have or did score below 1200-1300 on the SAT. Will they be able to do Colgate-level work? Today's political climate is such that the tests have been branded racist, classist, bad predictors of academic performance, and worse. But they're not. The U. Cal regents last year dropped standardized tests in the face of evidence presented by the system-wide faculty senate, showing that the tests (SAT or ACT) were the best predictor of future academic performance. But the SJWs and their amen chorus among the Regents wouldn't hear of it, and the tests were jettisoned. Good luck with that. While Colgate and most other high-end schools are still test-optional, the new free-for-all climate will, at least for a while, make it more difficult for those schools to select the best class possible. The fact that their admission rates are way down may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. Time will tell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on the Colgate alums I know there is no way I would send my daughter to Colgate.

Do tell,
Spill the beans.

I have never seen men look at women the way I have seen Colgate alums look at them. Never. The only word to describe it is prey. And I am a middle aged guy who appreciates a beautiful woman. But there’s something off with these guys and there is no way I would let my daughters any where near them.