With
SAT scores now optional, Drew draws more
applicants
But College Board officials say
schools lose tool for evaluating students
Monday, January 02, 2006 • BY KELLY HEYBOER •
Star-Ledger Staff
When Drew University announced it would
stop requiring students to submit their SAT scores with
their applications this fall, campus officials were unsure
what to expect.
Fewer than two dozen competitive liberal
arts colleges had dropped the standardized admissions exam
in recent years. Drew, a 2,600-student private university in
Madison, would be the first major four-year institution in
New Jersey to make the move.
Turns out, Drew officials had nothing to
worry about. Within days, phone calls, e-mails and inquiries
began arriving from around the nation from guidance
counselors, parents and prospective applicants.
"We received overwhelmingly positive
responses," said Mary Beth Carey, Drew's dean of admissions.
"Our phones were ringing off the hook."
By the end of November, Drew had received
1,400 applications -- a nearly 44 percent increase over the
same time period last year.
School officials credit the national
publicity over their SAT decision with part of the spike in
early applications. (Revamping Dean's Choice, a campus
program that recruits top students to apply to Drew's early
decision program by Dec. 1, also helped boost the
numbers.)
Since then, the applications have
continued to arrive in record numbers. As of Dec. 15, Drew
had received a total of 2,440 applications, about 11 percent
more than this time last year.
Drew is on track to receive a record
number of applications before its Feb. 15 regular decision
deadline. It is impossible to tell how much of the increase
is due to the SAT announcement, but Carey suspects making
the high-stakes test optional put Drew on a lot of students'
radar.
"It is having more of an impact than I
thought," Carey said.
Robert Weisbuch, Drew's new president,
came up with the idea of dropping the SAT and ACT
requirement shortly after his arrival last summer. The
school made the announcement in September, just as the
college application season was getting into full
swing.
Last year, Drew received a total of 3,800
applications. Nearly 77 percent of those students were
admitted and about 400 enrolled in the freshman
class.
By dropping the SAT requirement, Drew
wanted to "encourage students to focus more on what a
liberal arts education has to offer them and less on test
scores," Weisbuch said at the time.
Under the new rules, Drew applicants can
submit either their SAT scores or a graded paper from high
school.
SAT critics, who say the college entrance
exam is biased, praised Drew's decision. It is not unusual
for colleges to see a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in
applications after announcing they will drop their SAT
requirement, said Robert Schaeffer, education director of
the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a nonprofit
group opposed to standardized testing.
"It does become a cycle," Schaeffer said.
"Guidance counselors talk them up. They get more
applications. That makes them ... more
competitive."
Nationwide, about 730 bachelor-degree
granting colleges have test score-optional policies,
according to the National Center for Fair & Open
Testing. But most of those are trade schools, small colleges
or schools with open admissions policies.
About 14 nationally known, selective
colleges -- including Bowdoin in Maine, Middlebury in
Vermont and Mt. Holyoke in Massachusetts -- do not require
the SAT, according to the College Board, the nonprofit group
that oversees the test.
This year, at least six schools made the
SAT optional, including Knox College in Illinois, College of
the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, Chatham College in
Pittsburgh, Lawrence University in Wisconsin and St.
Lawrence University in New York.
Several of those schools say they have
already noticed a spike in students sending in applications.
At Holy Cross, applications are up nearly 46 percent
compared to two years ago.
"We believe the decision to make
standardized testing optional has influenced this," said
Ellen Ryder, a Holy Cross spokeswoman.
At Knox College, applications are up
about 14 percent since the school announced it would stop
requiring students to submit their SAT scores.
"Overall, it is working out beautifully,"
said Paul Steenis, Knox College's dean of
admissions.
College Board officials, however, believe
schools that stop requiring SAT scores are making a serious
mistake. Without the standardized test, admissions officers
lose a valuable tool in evaluating students and make the
application process more subjective, said Caren Scoropanos,
a College Board spokeswoman.
"When colleges have more information
about a student, that always helps the student and helps
colleges make a better decision," Scoropanos
said.
Earlier this year, the College Board
debuted a new version of the SAT exam with higher-level math
questions, an essay section and a new 2,400-point grading
scale to respond to critics who said the test had lost its
relevance. Though the new sections appeased some critics,
many still questioned whether the 3-hour, 45-minute exam was
the best measure of a student's ability to succeed in
college.
At Drew, it remains to be seen how many
applicants take the school up on its offer to send a graded
paper from high school in place of their SAT scores. Since
the policy change was announced after application materials
were printed, the university is contacting all of the
applicants to ask whether they want their SAT scores
considered.
The college hired four new part-time
readers to assess the graded papers during the application
screening process.
Christian Miller, 17, said he jumped at
the chance to submit a high school paper instead of his SAT
scores when he applied to Drew this fall. The senior from
Massachusetts submitted a paper on "Macbeth" he wrote for an
English midterm last year. He earned an A-plus.
"I knew that a graded paper would be much
more efficient for me," Miller said. "SAT scores are just a
number."
But Jillian Tundidor, a 17-year-old Green
Brook resident, said she still submitted her test scores
with her application despite Drew's new SAT-optional policy.
She scored 2,030 (out of 2,400) on the test.
"I felt I had done well," Tundidor said.
"I wanted them to see that."
Kelly Heyboer covers higher education. She may be reached
at kheyboer@starledger.com or (973) 392-5929.
© 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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