Who else has a feeling this change is due to internal pressure that there aren't enough domestic applicants that can make the grades?
Gotta have some way to fight back against "Chi-com" influence
Who else has a feeling this change is due to internal pressure that there aren't enough domestic applicants that can make the grades?
Gotta have some way to fight back against "Chi-com" influence
Dropping the SAT/ACT is white liberal reaction. There are four reasons behind this:
It makes it easier to apply to Harvard, which gives them more money in application fees ($75 per application).
Low admission rate is calculated in US News and World Report rankings. A school will be rated higher simply by denying more applicants. These rankings are incredibly important. University presidents jobs in part depend on them. Abolishing the SAT means more applications and more denials.
The "abolish the SAT" movement took off as soon as Asian students started greatly outperforming white students on the tests. This timing is not a coincidence. This is absolutely white liberal backlash.
It scores a PR win among white liberals who want to look like they're fighting for marginalized students without actually surrendering any privilege.
None of this is a defense of the SAT or ACT, they're dogshit tests that just exists to impose hierarchies on students. But abolishing them doesn't remove the hierarchies, it just shuffles the criteria around to determine your place in the hierarchy. It puts more emphasis on legacy admits, extracurriculars, and personal essays, all of which are even more classist and racist than standardized tests.
"Holistic admissions" are a scam. They were literally invented in the early-mid 1900s because working-class Jews did too well on the tests at the time.
I mean, I know you give that caveat that the tests are indeed dogshit, and your 4 points I don't disagree with.....but you do still kinda make it seem like this isn't good. Fuck the SATs. I don't really care what the reason is, we just need universities to get rid of them. That shit is a terrible factor in judging quality.
I think there are good and bad parts to it. It's good that kids won't have to prepare for the SATs as much. But it's not going to improve the quality of students that get into Harvard, it's not going to meaninfully improve working class or underrepresented minority representation (could even backfire), and honestly I don't even think it's going to make students less stressed about applications. If anything it could make them more stressed because it will make Harvard even harder to get into (more applications for same number of spots).
And I agree the SAT is a bad way to judge quality. Extracurriculars, essays, and legacy admissions - which will all become a bigger piece of the pie - are even worse.
I dunno - I hope this helps students. I sincerely do not think it will.
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Yup - a rich kid can get a small to moderate advantage by paying for SAT tutoring. They can automatically win by literally hiring a former admissions officer to write an essay for them!
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