College Admissions Help Blog

Youths who take the exam multiple times can choose just the best results. Some people see a reduction in stress, but others say the move will mostly help the affluent because of the test’s cost.

By Seema Mehta and Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 21, 2008

High school students seeking to put the best shine on their college applications will soon be able to choose which of their SAT scores to share with admissions officers and which to hide, the College Board said Friday.

The new policy, starting with the class of 2010, will allow students to take the widely used college entrance exam multiple times without admissions officers seeing their less-than-stellar efforts. Now, colleges receive scores of all the times a student attempted the dreaded test, whether the results were spectacular, mediocre or worse.

“Students were telling us the ability to have more control over their scores would make the test experience more comfortable and less stressful,” said Laurence Bunin, senior vice president of the SAT. “. . . We can do that without in any way diminishing the value and integrity of the SAT.”

The College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the test, made the change at a time when some universities are placing less emphasis on standardized testing in choosing prospective freshmen and as the rival ACT exam is gaining popularity. The new SAT scoring option, approved Thursday by the College Board’s trustees, mimics the ACT’s long-standing policy.

But some high school counselors and college admissions officials voiced concern Friday that the new rules would most help affluent students whose parents can pay for multiple SAT attempts, at $45 a sitting, as well as pricey coaching. Previously, admissions officials would know if a student took the test four, five, even six times and might be suspicious about the role of tutoring in any improved scores.

“In every policy change, there are some winners and losers,” said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Assn. of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “This creates a penalty-free way for applicants who can afford the price of the test numerous times to shop for their best scores. For those students for whom cost is not a barrier, this is a tremendously good thing.”

Most students take the exam twice, once each in their junior and senior years. The College Board waives the fee for lower-income students to take it twice. Only 15% take the exam three or more times, and research shows that repeated test taking is unlikely to further increase a student’s scores, officials said.

The SAT, which takes three hours and 45 minutes to complete, has three sections — math, critical reasoning and writing — and a perfect score of 2400 requires earning an 800 on each part. Colleges typically use the test results as a uniform way to compare students who come from schools across the nation with varying grading policies and curricula. Grades, recommendations, extracurricular activities and other factors also figure into the selection process.

Under the new policy, students who take the SAT or the supplemental SAT subject exams multiple times will be able to decide whether to let colleges see one, some or all of their scores. There is no extra charge, and students must opt into the program online or on the telephone; otherwise all scores will be shared.

To ensure fairness and to stop students from “gaming the system,” the College Board ruled out allowing students to mix and match their math, reasoning and writing scores from the different times they take the test.

Historically, the New York-based SAT has been popular on the East and West coasts, while the Midwest and the South are the strongholds for the ACT, based in Iowa City, Iowa. For the class of 2007, nearly 1.5 million took the SAT, compared with the ACT’s 1.3 million. Some observers say recent gains for the ACT prompted the new SAT policy.

“They need to make changes to keep their product competitive,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education director at the Cambridge, Mass.-based FairTest, which is critical of standardized testing. “If the ACT is the Avis of the industry, they’ve been catching up with Hertz.”

Counselors said the new policy will help reduce stress.

“It’s going to make students relax about the test a bit,” said Stephen Williams, a counselor at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles. “It may give them more confidence to take some risks and try it some more times.”

But for fairness, he said, the College Board should extend fee waivers so low-income students can take the test for free three or four times.

Reactions from universities and colleges were mixed. University of California officials said the new policy would have no effect on their nine undergraduate campuses — they already use only the best score of a single sitting, no matter how many times an applicant tackles the exam.

Some admissions officials thought the plan might backfire for some students. Many private colleges consider only the best sub-scores of the three SAT sections from an applicant’s various attempts — for example, possibly a math from May and a writing score from October — and that can’t be done if just one day’s test is sent in.

USC, for example, opposes the new option and may still require applicants to submit all of their SAT attempts, said Timothy Brunold, director of undergraduate admission.

“We would prefer to see a student’s entire score history, because it gives us the context of how students earned their scores,” he said. By submitting the single best total from one day, the applicant “may not get the benefit” of how USC and many other universities count the best section scores, he said.

Bruce Poch, dean of admissions at Pomona College, slammed the decision. “It’s a mistake. It’s going to give kids more room to play games,” he said. “It’s going to privilege kids who are already in an advantaged position financially.”

Pomona in recent years has seen greater numbers of applicants taking both the SAT and the ACT — evidence of the latter’s increase in popularity, which Poch said the College Board appeared to be trying to stall with its decision.

“There’s no evidence that it’s anything more than a marketing decision because they think they’re going to give up a majority of that market to ACT takers,” he said.

Students, however, lauded the move. Jaleel Reed, soon to be a senior at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, said he wished his graduating class of ‘09 could take advantage of the new SAT policy. Younger students will be delighted, he said.

“You want colleges to see your best work. So this only helps your chances,” said Reed, who took the SAT this spring and plans to repeat it in the fall. He said he intended to apply to UC campuses and top East Coast universities.

Youths who take the exam multiple times can choose just the best results. Some people see a reduction in stress, but others say the move will mostly help the affluent because of the test’s cost.

By Seema Mehta and Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 21, 2008

High school students seeking to put the best shine on their college applications will soon be able to choose which of their SAT scores to share with admissions officers and which to hide, the College Board said Friday.

The new policy, starting with the class of 2010, will allow students to take the widely used college entrance exam multiple times without admissions officers seeing their less-than-stellar efforts. Now, colleges receive scores of all the times a student attempted the dreaded test, whether the results were spectacular, mediocre or worse.

“Students were telling us the ability to have more control over their scores would make the test experience more comfortable and less stressful,” said Laurence Bunin, senior vice president of the SAT. “. . . We can do that without in any way diminishing the value and integrity of the SAT.”

The College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the test, made the change at a time when some universities are placing less emphasis on standardized testing in choosing prospective freshmen and as the rival ACT exam is gaining popularity. The new SAT scoring option, approved Thursday by the College Board’s trustees, mimics the ACT’s long-standing policy.

But some high school counselors and college admissions officials voiced concern Friday that the new rules would most help affluent students whose parents can pay for multiple SAT attempts, at $45 a sitting, as well as pricey coaching. Previously, admissions officials would know if a student took the test four, five, even six times and might be suspicious about the role of tutoring in any improved scores.

“In every policy change, there are some winners and losers,” said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Assn. of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “This creates a penalty-free way for applicants who can afford the price of the test numerous times to shop for their best scores. For those students for whom cost is not a barrier, this is a tremendously good thing.”

Most students take the exam twice, once each in their junior and senior years. The College Board waives the fee for lower-income students to take it twice. Only 15% take the exam three or more times, and research shows that repeated test taking is unlikely to further increase a student’s scores, officials said.

The SAT, which takes three hours and 45 minutes to complete, has three sections — math, critical reasoning and writing — and a perfect score of 2400 requires earning an 800 on each part. Colleges typically use the test results as a uniform way to compare students who come from schools across the nation with varying grading policies and curricula. Grades, recommendations, extracurricular activities and other factors also figure into the selection process.

Under the new policy, students who take the SAT or the supplemental SAT subject exams multiple times will be able to decide whether to let colleges see one, some or all of their scores. There is no extra charge, and students must opt into the program online or on the telephone; otherwise all scores will be shared.

To ensure fairness and to stop students from “gaming the system,” the College Board ruled out allowing students to mix and match their math, reasoning and writing scores from the different times they take the test.

Historically, the New York-based SAT has been popular on the East and West coasts, while the Midwest and the South are the strongholds for the ACT, based in Iowa City, Iowa. For the class of 2007, nearly 1.5 million took the SAT, compared with the ACT’s 1.3 million. Some observers say recent gains for the ACT prompted the new SAT policy.

“They need to make changes to keep their product competitive,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education director at the Cambridge, Mass.-based FairTest, which is critical of standardized testing. “If the ACT is the Avis of the industry, they’ve been catching up with Hertz.”

Counselors said the new policy will help reduce stress.

“It’s going to make students relax about the test a bit,” said Stephen Williams, a counselor at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles. “It may give them more confidence to take some risks and try it some more times.”

But for fairness, he said, the College Board should extend fee waivers so low-income students can take the test for free three or four times.

Reactions from universities and colleges were mixed. University of California officials said the new policy would have no effect on their nine undergraduate campuses — they already use only the best score of a single sitting, no matter how many times an applicant tackles the exam.

Some admissions officials thought the plan might backfire for some students. Many private colleges consider only the best sub-scores of the three SAT sections from an applicant’s various attempts — for example, possibly a math from May and a writing score from October — and that can’t be done if just one day’s test is sent in.

USC, for example, opposes the new option and may still require applicants to submit all of their SAT attempts, said Timothy Brunold, director of undergraduate admission.

“We would prefer to see a student’s entire score history, because it gives us the context of how students earned their scores,” he said. By submitting the single best total from one day, the applicant “may not get the benefit” of how USC and many other universities count the best section scores, he said.

Bruce Poch, dean of admissions at Pomona College, slammed the decision. “It’s a mistake. It’s going to give kids more room to play games,” he said. “It’s going to privilege kids who are already in an advantaged position financially.”

Pomona in recent years has seen greater numbers of applicants taking both the SAT and the ACT — evidence of the latter’s increase in popularity, which Poch said the College Board appeared to be trying to stall with its decision.

“There’s no evidence that it’s anything more than a marketing decision because they think they’re going to give up a majority of that market to ACT takers,” he said.

Students, however, lauded the move. Jaleel Reed, soon to be a senior at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, said he wished his graduating class of ‘09 could take advantage of the new SAT policy. Younger students will be delighted, he said.

“You want colleges to see your best work. So this only helps your chances,” said Reed, who took the SAT this spring and plans to repeat it in the fall. He said he intended to apply to UC campuses and top East Coast universities.

The revamped SAT, expanded three years ago to include a writing test, predicts college success no better than the old test, and not quite as well as a student’s high school grades, according to studies released Tuesday by the College Board, which owns the test.

“The changes made to the SAT did not substantially change how predictive the test is of first-year college performance,” the studies said.

College Board officials presented their findings as “important and positive” confirmation of the test’s success.

“The SAT continues to be an excellent predictor of how students will perform,” said Laurence Bunin, senior vice president of operations at the board, and general manager of the SAT program. “The 3-hour, 45-minutes test is almost as good a predictor as four years of high school grades, and a better predictor for minority students.”

But critics of the new test say that if that is the best it can do, the extra time, expense and stress on students are not worth it.

“The new SAT was supposed to be significantly better and fairer than the old one, but it is neither,” said Robert Schaeffer, the public education director at FairTest, a group that is critical of much standardized testing. “It underpredicts college success for females and those whose best language is not English, and over all, it does not predict college success as well as high school grades, so why do we need the SAT, old or new?”

The reports, called validity studies, are based on individual data from 151,000 students at more than 100 colleges and universities who started college in fall of 2006.

Plans to revise the SAT were announced in 2002, the year after the University of California president, Richard Atkinson, threatened to drop the test as an admission requirement.

“Given the data released today, what was the point of all the hoopla about the SAT’s revisions beyond preserving their California market?” Mr. Schaeffer said. “This is all spin. It’s been a marketing operation from the get-go.”

Since the new SAT was introduced, Mr. Schaeffer said, 41 colleges and universities have dropped their requirements that applicants submit standardized test scores to be admitted. The College Board reports found that for black, Hispanic, Asian and American Indian students — and for girls — SAT scores are slightly more predictive of college success than are high school grades. They also found that scores on the new writing section predict students’ college grades slightly better than scores on the other sections, reading and math.

The revised SAT costs $45 and has a possible top score of 2400, 800 on each of the three sections. The writing section includes a 25-minute essay, which counts for a quarter of the writing grade, and 49 multiple-choice questions on grammar and style, which count for the rest. Until 2005, the College Board offered a separate writing subject test, but only about 75 colleges required it.

When the new test was introduced, many colleges said they would not use the new writing section in making their admission decisions until validity studies showed it helped them make better admission decisions. But College Board officials said Tuesday that they hoped the new studies would encourage almost every university to use it.

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New Haven, Conn. — President Richard C. Levin announced today the decision to move forward with the expansion of Yale College. In a letter to Yale alumni, faculty, students and staff, he discussed the University’s decision to increase the enrollment of Yale College by 15 percent by establishing two new residential colleges. Levin said he expected the new colleges to open in 2013. He noted that Yale College currently admits fewer than 10 percent of the more than 20,000 talented students who apply each year.

Dear Yale Alumni:

I am pleased to announce that the Yale Corporation has authorized increasing the enrollment of Yale College through the creation of two new residential colleges. This expansion will allow us to make an even greater contribution to society by preparing a larger number of talented and promising students of all backgrounds for leadership and service.

We will achieve this goal while ensuring that the quality of the Yale College educational and social experience will be as extraordinary as ever.

As I stated in February, when we shared the report of the Study Group to Consider New Residential Colleges, the last significant increase in the size of the Yale College student body came with the admission of women in 1969. By 1978, undergraduate enrollment first reached 5,200, and it has remained between 5,150 and 5,350 ever since. When women were first allowed to apply to Yale College, the number of applications soared immediately from 6,781 to 10,039, and the number fluctuated between 9,000 and 13,000 until 2001, when it began a steady rise to its current level of 22,500, spurred by dramatic improvements in financial aid, wider awareness of Yale’s accessibility, the extension of full need-based aid to international students, and a growing appreciation of the quality of a Yale College education. Along with the rise in applications has come an equally dramatic increase in the percentage of those admitted who accept Yale’s offer, from 53% when I became president, to over 70% in recent years.

The principal result of these changes in the admissions picture is that Yale College has become significantly more selective. From 1969 to 2000, the percentage of applicants admitted to Yale College ranged from 18% to 27%. It was above 20% as recently as 1999. Today, Yale College admits fewer than 10% of its applicants. Admissions officers agree that in each of the past several years we have denied admission to hundreds of applicants who would have been admitted ten years ago.

The mission of Yale College is to seek exceptionally promising students of all backgrounds from across the nation and around the world and to educate them, through mental discipline and social experience, to develop their intellectual, moral, civic and creative capacities. The aim of this education is the cultivation of citizens with a rich awareness of our heritage to lead and serve in every sphere of human activity. For three centuries, we have made this aspiration a reality, to the great benefit of the nation and, increasingly, the world. Today, we have a long queue of highly qualified applicants who collectively would allow Yale to make an even greater contribution to society if more could be educated here. In addition, since the late-1970s, when the undergraduate population ceased to grow, Yale is larger in virtually every dimension: faculty, staff, library and museum resources, and physical presence. We are well poised, therefore, to expand.

Our 12 existing residential colleges are admired because they create intimate communities and a superb environment for learning. The new colleges will emulate Yale’s proven model with a master, dean, fellows, and students forming a close-knit family, supported by the highest caliber public and private spaces for living and study. With an anticipated opening in 2013, these colleges will allow us not only to increase the undergraduate student body by about 15 percent, but also to alleviate crowding throughout the residential college system. We expect to reduce the population of the existing colleges by approximately 140 students and largely eliminate the need for annex housing.

Our goal is that students in every residential college, old and new, will have an even more robust and enlivening experience as a result of this expansion. Thus, we are adding facilities in the vicinity of the new colleges that support academics and student life, including classroom space, a student café, exercise facilities, a theater, and more. We are also expanding the faculty to sustain our favorable ratio of students to teachers, particularly in highly subscribed majors, and we are growing our system of academic advising. New resources will augment curricular development, student research, study abroad, and the whole range of extracurricular activities so important to a Yale education.

The new colleges will be built in a triangle just north of the Grove Street Cemetery bounded by Prospect, Canal, and Sachem Streets, creating a new sense of the geography of our campus by enlarging the footprint of Yale College. I believe that the presence of undergraduate residences north of Grove Street will alter the perception that Science Hill is “too far away” from the “center” of campus. In fact, the site proposed for the new colleges is only three blocks north of Elm Street, which divides the Old Campus and the Cross Campus. As the Study Group Report indicates, the new colleges have the potential of making the whole campus seem smaller, more effectively linking Science Hill with the historic “center” through the proper treatment of Prospect Street, the creation of appropriate “stepping stones” along the way, and the development of facilities for student activities at, near, and beyond the site of the new colleges.

To support the expansion of Yale College, the Corporation has authorized an increase in the goal of the Yale Tomorrow fundraising campaign from $3 billion to $3.5 billion. I am delighted to announce that, thanks to generous commitments from a handful of leadership donors, we have already secured $140 million in gifts and pledges for this purpose.

Almost 80 years ago, Edward H. Harkness, B.A. 1897, gave the funds to create Yale’s residential college system. He saw the residential colleges as a way to sustain the collegiate spirit in a school that was fast becoming a university. Since then, Yale College has grown in ways that Harkness never predicted. The student body has doubled, women have been enrolled, and young people have been welcomed from more than 100 nations. Remarkably, the members of this vast and vibrant enterprise still consider themselves part of a family. This is Harkness’s great legacy, and one that we will preserve in a new era of expansion. I am grateful for the outstanding work of the Study Group for providing us with wise counsel on how to achieve this objective.

Sincerely yours,

Richard C. Levin

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