College Admission Help

College Counselor Advice: Changes Test the Observation Powers of Juniors

By Dr. Patrick O’Connor
As seniors continue to weigh their college options and colleges continue to look for the crystal ball that will tell them how many students are really coming to campus this fall, a small story broke recently that should be of great interest to juniors. Colby College is now giving applicants the choice of submitting either the SAT or the ACT OR three SAT Subject tests. The addition of the option of sending Subject tests adds a brand new option to test takers. Since Subject tests are designed to measure what students have learned in classes, students might decide these tests will better show what they know and require less test prep.

Colby’s decision adds another test choice in a year that’s rich with new test choices. College Board is now offering students the option of choosing what scores to send to colleges—remember that College Board used to send all SAT results to a college, leaving the student no choice but to send low scores along with high ones. College Board feels this new option will take some of the stress out of test taking…

…but of course, it hasn’t. Some colleges have responded to this new option by announcing they are going to require students to send ALL test scores, even if College Board and ACT offers the choice of sending only some. Counselors have expressed concern that the new policy will put more pressure on students who may have a high Verbal score on one test and a high Math on the other—will sending both be an advantage, or will the low scores on both put them behind the 8 ball?

Finally, all of this test talk has led even more colleges to look at their testing policies and say “Ya know what? Forget it!” Connecticut College is the latest school to go test optional; you can send some, all, or none of your test scores, and it’s more than OK with them. CC joins hundreds of colleges who have made the same decision—since test prep courses can sometimes teach students to appear smarter than they are, the transcript is becoming a more reliable source of information, even though grading scales vary greatly from one high school to the next. http://www.fairtest.org/ has a list of test-optional schools; take a look, and be sure to go to the college’s Web site to confirm the policy.

What’s a junior to do in the midst of all this change? First, take a test. Unless you know all the colleges you want to apply to are test optional, there’s a good chance you’re going to need a set of scores come September—and since rolling admission colleges are first come first serve, you want to have a set of scores good to go. It’s not too late to sign up for the late spring tests, so get busy—go to www.collegeboard.com and www.act.org for SAT and ACT, respectively.

Second, watch the Web sites. Colby and Connecticut College announced their changes this week, but many other colleges are so focused on this year’s seniors, they might not get around to making their announcements until May. The changes may not impact your decisions about which tests to take and which scores to send, but you never know the opportunities new changes might bring. So bookmark the Web pages of your favorite colleges, sign up for a test or two, and buckle up—the ride may get pretty wild.

College Counselor Advice: Changes Test the Observation Powers of Juniors