Today: Mar 28, 2024

Admissions may not look at SAT exams anymore

Tamonda Griffiths News Writer

It has recently been proposed that the university may be eliminating the SAT exam as part of their admissions process.

According to a National Center for Fair & Open Testing fall 2018 study, over 1,000 colleges and universities do not require SAT or ACT scores in their admissions process.

Alexis Haakonsen, director of admissions, said the SAT is only part of the entire application review. Haakonsen said what is most heavily weighed when reviewing a prospective student’s application is their high school transcript. She said she thinks the admissions office puts into perspective that the SAT is “one day, one experience.”

Besides the admission process, the SAT is also used in the tier one category of the Liberal Education Program, specifically for the placement of incoming freshmen within the math and English courses.

 

“It’s not a perfect tool,” said Professor Leon Brin, mathematics department chairperson.

Brin said students are welcome to challenge their SAT placement during the New Student Orientation which incoming freshmen participate in months before the start of their first year.

“Whatever metric we use, we’ll still leave that as an option,” said Brin.

He said the math department does not specifically handle the placement, the department just presents their rules and requirements for certain courses to admissions.

Haakonsen said no two students are identical nor does one singular factor determine the placement of students. She said the SAT is not the “be-all, end-all,” nor is the application review process one-sided.

“Taking a test is a skill,” said professor Joy Fopiano, the director of the New Haven Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) at Southern.

Fopiano said while students in the GEAR UP program would spend some days doing “drill and practice” for the SAT; the college professors involved would focus more on teaching “the skills students needed in order to be successful in a college environment.”

Justin Gendron, a sophomore, and political science major said he does not think that Southern should do away with the SAT.

“It’s an equal playing field, for all students to be judged on,” said Gendron. “That’s their base, kind of their mark.”

Gendron said he used the SAT to gain admittance into school and thought it was “pretty fair.”

He said an advantage of the SAT is a student can take it as many times as they “want to pay for it.”

A sophomore, and psychology major, Julia Aubrey said she thinks standardized testing should not determine someone’s admittance to a college or university considering some people may not be good test takers.

“Everyone’s different,” said Aubrey.

Photo Credit: Tamonda Griffiths

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