Schools no longer requiring ACT/SAT scores for admission

[LMS]

Xavier announced that they will no longer require applicants to the university to submit an ACT/SAT score. Creighton and DePaul and maybe others have done this previously. I’m probably a traditionalist in my view, but I like the idea of my school reporting a strong average ACT score for accepted students.

It’s off topic, but I wonder what the view of other fans of Big East schools is?

[ArmyVet]

There is definitely an effort being made to deemphasize standardize test results in the college admission process. Whether stated as such or not, it appears this is to help increase minority admission rates as there have been many studies that have shown minority groups and those from underprivileged communities test disproportionally worse compared to white and/or privileged applicants. The difference could be because of the high school the applicant attends or the ability of someone to pay for additional ACT/SAT prep courses, but the trend to not require standardized test scores is gaining momentum.

[gtmoBlue]

Hispanics / Blacks disproportionately attend lesser (lower level) colleges/universities and often part time, with remedial classes first.

Data shows that the admissions rates are close, but graduation rates lag way behind. Seems the Supreme Court has shot down a few Affirmative Action cases over the last several years. Kids at less prestigious schools, who are not full time, and need remedial work to "get ready" for college are much less likely to graduate.

Even when they graduate they then face wage discrimination in the workplace.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ra ... aduation/t

[ArmyVet]

Hispanics / Blacks disproportionately attend lesser (lower level) colleges/universities and often part time, with remedial classes first.

Data shows that the admissions rates are close, but graduation rates lag way behind. Seems the Supreme Court has shot down a few Affirmative Action cases over the last several years. Kids at less prestigious schools, who are not full time, and need remedial work to "get ready" for college are much less likely to graduate.

Even when they graduate they then face wage discrimination in the workplace.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ra ... aduation/t

The link didn't work for me. I'm no expert on this but are you suggesting that not requiring test scores is a good thing or not? If college graduation rates lag far behind, getting kids admitted doesn't seem to be the issue - getting them graduated is the issue.

[FriarJ]

PC was one of the first well recognized schools to drop this requirement. I think about 5 years ago, and while it has dropped their overall SAT score averages for the school it has also helped make the campus less homogenized. That is why most schools are doing this.

[marquette]

Out of curiosity, what do they use as a cross-institutional comparison now?

[gtmoBlue]

Hispanics / Blacks disproportionately attend lesser (lower level) colleges/universities and often part time, with remedial classes first.

Data shows that the admissions rates are close, but graduation rates lag way behind. Seems the Supreme Court has shot down a few Affirmative Action cases over the last several years. Kids at less prestigious schools, who are not full time, and need remedial work to "get ready" for college are much less likely to graduate.

Even when they graduate they then face wage discrimination in the workplace.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ra ... aduation/t

The link didn't work for me. I'm no expert on this but are you suggesting that not requiring test scores is a good thing or not? If college graduation rates lag far behind, getting kids admitted doesn't seem to be the issue - getting them graduated is the issue.

Was an 2014 article. Yes, admissions seems not the issue any longer. But minorities(Hisp/Black) at non-elite schools graduate a lower rates, even amongst those attending fulltime. It appears universities are using other criteria to replace test scores, so whether using tests/not using tests appears a thing of the past.

[FriarJ]

Out of curiosity, what do they use as a cross-institutional comparison now?

Kids are still required to send the school their results but not until after they have been accepted and enrolled.

[hortle]

good on the schools for doing this. its laughable how much our high school system relies on standardized testing to evaluate students.

[DemonBaby]

DePaul did this and I’m not a fan. I don’t think ACT score should be the only piece of an application that matters but I do feel like it’s useful. Maybe we’re just getting soft and don’t want to turn anyone away. Or maybe the times require us to admit students we wouldn’t have in the past because we need to keep the money flowing in.