Why are colleges really dropping their SAT II requirements?
According to the Boston Globe, the number of selective colleges requiring applicants to submit SAT IIs is in decline:
In the past year, Amherst College, Dartmouth College, and Williams College all have dropped the subject test requirement, taking a lead from Columbia University, which announced the new policy this spring. Duke University and Vassar College also no longer require the tests, often called SAT II.
The shift occurs amid a larger discussion in higher education about the value of standardized testing in admissions. Some colleges, especially less-selective private schools but also such public colleges as UMass Lowell and Salem State, have made the main SAT and ACT tests optional.
“We want to make the application process as fair to all students as possible,” said Mary Dettloff, a spokeswoman for Williams College. “We felt like we weren’t getting any valuable data from the SAT II scores to help us.”
So if you’re planning to apply to schools where SAT IIs are optional, does this mean you should happily remove them from your testing checklist?
Maybe not so fast. (more…)