The Triangle

Issue date: 6/6/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Karl Kuchs Many colleges have decided to drop the SAT requirement for admission; however, Drexel University will continue to consider the scores in their application process.

Wake Forest University and Smith College have dropped the SAT and ACT requirement for admission, but Drexel will not follow suit, according to Joan McDonald, director of Enrollment Management.

"Generally, we feel that using it does add to our ability to predict how successful a student will be," McDonald said.

The most important criteria for admission to Drexel are high school GPA, class rank and SAT scores, she added.

"Many times, 50 percent of the time, there is no class rank and that leaves you with the high school GPA and SAT as the two numerical factors," McDonald said.

John Heffernan, a freshman biomedical engineer, said he thinks it is correct for colleges to consider a student's SAT scores.

"It's the only thing that we have that is standardized and the same amongst all students," Heffernan said. "You can't judge people on their school system."

McDonald said the SAT gives the University a national picture of where students are in terms of prediction of how a student will do. She said the national average based on the old system of scoring is about 1,000.

"We want to have some national standard to measure students," McDonald said. "I have worked with the College Board and I think it is a very well researched tool," she said, referring to the SAT.

"It's a standardized test, but it's not a good standardized test," Zachary Reph, a freshman business administration major said. "Public schools should be more standardized."

McDonald also said the SAT is predictive of a student's high school GPA and can correlate with a family's income. If a family has more income they are better able to send students to school districts with more resources.

However, McDonald also said GPAs can indicate if a student can outwork the test.

"[The SAT] is a better grade of how you take tests than of what you know," Reph said.

Motivation is one of the key factors Drexel looks for, and students that are highly motivated are going to do much better, according to McDonald.

Dropping the SAT requirement isn't a new thing, according to McDonald. It's been going on for about seven to eight years and approximately 750 out of 4,000 schools aren't using the SAT.

Small liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania such as Lafayette and Dickinson have dropped the SAT requirement.

"I think what you'll find is that larger universities will be inclined to use standardized exams," McDonald said.

The SAT average for the incoming class is 1203, whereas last year it was 1200. Even if students have lower SAT scores than the average, "you have to look at the whole package," according to McDonald.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools