About That NACAC Report on the SAT

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I had mediocre SAT scores. I managed by some miracle to attend UC Berkely. I graduated in the top one or two percent of my class, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. I went on to law school, with a mediocre LSAT score, and graduated #1 in my class. Until they develop a test for drive and determination, I must wonder how many Thomas Edisons have been denied a first-class college education because of a poor standardized test score. I am willing to allow first year college grades to determine whether a student stays or goes. The thought that a single organization screens the entire college population of America for the leaders of tomorrow, using their criteria to filter out whomever, concerns me. Does anyone else out there have a clue what that means, or are we all lining up to become soylent green?

Peter A. V. Huegel of CA 11:01PM October 19, 2008

We need a national test.
Without a test, grades will become all important.
And, high schools vary far too much to compare GPAs and class ranks.
Keep the SAT. If its an evil, its a necessary evil.

Paul of DC 8:15PM October 01, 2008

US News does an incredibly valueable service in providing helpful information to the consumers of higher education. The cry baby school officials who do not want to be compared to others expect consumers of education to spend 100-200k without helpful criteria that could compare the strength of their student bodies. Grade inflation is so rampant among high schools that some standard measure is required to compare students from different schools. Pure common sense. The alternative is to allow incredibly subjective decisions about which students with the same G.P.A. or class percentage rank should be admitted. For example, every high school in the nation has someone who graduates number 1. Many of these students will have similar activities and similar classes. It would be helpful, indeed perhaps dispositive, to have some measure where they fairly competed against each other. The SAT, while not perfect, at least is fair compared to other more subjective factors.

Dan of CT 7:21PM September 23, 2008

US News does an incredibly valueable service in providing helpful information to the consumers of higher education. The cry baby school officials who do not want to be compared to others expect consumers of education to spend 100-200k without helpful criteria that could compare the strength of their student bodies. Grade inflation is so rampant among high schools that some standard measure is required to compare students from different schools. Pure common sense. The alternative is to allow incredibly subjective decisions about which students with the same G.P.A. or class percentage rank should be admitted. For example, every high school in the nation has someone who graduates number 1. Many of these students will have similar activities and similar classes. It would be helpful, indeed perhaps dispositive, to have some measure where they fairly competed against each other. The SAT, while not perfect, at least is fair compared to other more subjective factors.

Dan of CT 7:21PM September 23, 2008