Standardized test scores in the
U.S. Use to all but make or
break college applications for
Heisel seniors.
-- For high school seniors.
But during the pandemic 80% of
colleges went test optional.
The result?
Some students got accepted.
Now many colleges are
considering eliminating
admission test permanently.
Our special correspondent
reports from Atlanta as part of
our special series " rethinking
college."
>> Along with his reputation as
one of the nation's leading
research universities, the
campus vibe helped make Emory
university her number one
choice.
>> I toured it my junior year
and I called my parents and told
them that is where I wanted to
go.
>> The freshman from north
Carolina was a straight-a
student but her test score was a
dream crusher.
>> I made an 18 on an act,
half of the perfect score
being 36.
>> Did you compared to what the
average Emory student gets?
>> Absolutely.
I went -- what does an 18 test
score mean?
They told me I should look at
community college.
And didn't even consider my
grades as a student.
>> But when Emory and hundreds
of other institutions and
nonstudents did not have to
submit the scores due to the
pandemic, she applied hoping to
be the first in her family to go
to college.
>> She was not alone.
According to the common app used
by 900 schools, only 43% of the
incoming class of freshman
submitted their test scores
along with their college
applications.
>> You could actually have brain
activity --
>> That is down from 77%.
Selective universities or
schools that admit less than
half of applicants has seen the
greatest surge in applications
despite overall enrollment in
post secondary education
dropping during the pandemic.
>> We went from 75% of colleges
requiring the sat O almost none
in a year.
>> The Dean of admission says
dropping the scores --
change the composition of
applicants.
>> Last year 31% of the students
we admit it did not submit
scores.
But what was eye opening to us
was how many students from lower
income backroads O R whose
parents did not go to college at
all, or whose high schools are
not feeders to world-famous
universities, how much they
said, wow.
You mean, I can apply to Emory
or somewhere else?
That is where applicant pool
went.
We didn't expects that.
>> Last year, ry saw a 20%
surge in applicants.
This spring one third of
students are from
underrepresented groups.
>> This is voting with your
feet.
-- As an obstacle, you're just
going to kinda put a number on
it ended that is going to
determine the future.
I don't think it's serving every
student.
>> Students who came from
wealthier zip codes and school
districts tended to not only
take the test more often but
they were the ones who submitted
test scores.
>> Jeffrey is not surprised.
For his book, a year inside
college admissions, he spent two
years sitting in on the process
at three top universities
including Emory.
He could see how testing favored
the wealthy.
>> Underrepresented students who
came from lower income zip codes
tended not to take the test or
if they took the test, did not
submit test scores.
It is a really big divide.
>> Tests were once seen as the
key way to compare students from
different high schools on a
level playing field.
>> What you learned in your
interview.
>> But an assistant professor of
sociology says that field is not
level for all.
>> White students were doing
better on more heavily weighted,
easier items with common words
like golf and canoe.
But black and latinx students
did better on more academic and
difficult subjects all those
were weighted less heavily.
>> It is part of why even before
the pandemic some schools
including the university of
Chicago and Brandeis university
had moved away from using the
tests as part of the admissions
process.
>> Teachers were really
impressed with our school.
They started to call her a
powerhouse in the classroom.
>> We were flies on the wall for
conversations for the ones
admissions counselors have at
Emory.
Each applicant gets reviewed by
a pair of officers and those
that were too close to call the
-- get discussed.
>> I rate the letters of
recommendations at the very
top,.
>> Mark says Emory's admissions
progress took on -- process took
on an urgency.
What are the things that leap
off the page?
>> We spent a lot of time
looking at the context of the
student.
What were your opportunities in
your high school, what courses
are offered at your high school?
>> But accounting for those
differences is hard.
Even the essays, activities and
recommendations can be gamed.
>> Many wealthier parents hire
essay coaches to help their
kids write an essay.
Many high schools provide
coaching on the essay, but they
do the same thing with the
activities, the recommendations
tend to be better from
counselors and teachers at
suburban, well-resourced and
private high schools.
>> Then there is the money
factor.
An applicants need first is
ability to pay.
>> Most colleges need money.
So, many colleges look at the
need of students in admissions
or have other ways of assessing
need when they are assessing
applications.
>> Emory, like many other
universities, will study how
their students who enrolled
without test scores have fared.
And they have extended the test
optional policy for another
year.
>> For the rest of this year we
are going to study how our first
year students are doing and of
course we will start with the
easy to measure things like
retention.
What's going on with
transcripts, grades, course
selection.
Is Emory serving as a catalyst
for them to achieve their goals?
>> A first college graduate or
self says the impact on campus
goes beyond the students
entering without test scores.
>> In a field like sociology
where we asked them to think
critically about society, how
the world works and apply that
to their everyday experience, to
have different voices at the
table makes for a much richer
conversation.
>> For Porsha, her gamble paid
off when she found out she was
accepted.
>> I received congratulations
and fell out.
At the dinner table.
The next day I received the full
ride.
Yes.
You completed the coursework in
high school.
You did extra curricular
activities.
Stood out, you did things that
were new to you, you may have
done sports.
Why just be seen for a test
score?
>> She's majoring in
neuroscience and behavior
biology, a chance for her to
fulfill her dream of helping her
autistic sister.
>> I grew up going to her
appointments and watching her,
how she communicated and
interacted.
I remember asking the doctor
questions -- like.
Autism is one of those things we
have not tapped fully into and
we are still researching.
>> Several states are
considering laws to address the
role that standardize admissions
test play at their public
colleges.