Standardized College Entrance Tests, Fake Political Rallies, and Cyber-Stalking Comedians
October 19th, 2010
I am so torn. Both Stephen Colbert and John Stewart are coming to the area for dueling rallies. I really want to attend both, and hopefully meet them, have them recognize my comic brilliance, and name me the official college dean of both “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” — or just go ahead and give me a show of my own.
Sigh. Mixed feelings and unrealistic expectations — sounds a lot like the college admissions process.
Few things in the college admissions process bring out these emotions as much as standardized college entrance tests. In my speeches, I joke a lot about how much I hate the SATs, but the truth is — I love them as much as I hate them.
Why College Admissions Officers Love the SATs and Other Standardized Tests
First off, I am a fairly awesome test-taker. No, really. My grades, however, did not reflect this potential, so I was exactly the kind of student college admissions officers like least. Fortunately, I’m far too fond of myself to waste time on self-loathing.
The widespread affection college admissions officers show for these tests, however, isn’t about how we might or might not have performed. The far simpler truth is that standardized test scores make life easy for us. We know they don’t mean much, as they have very weak correlations with performance in college (far weaker than grades, motivation, or probably popularity). We’d probably do about as well determining who gets admitted based on shoe size. Nevertheless, we keep using test scores.
Why, you ask? Well, because it’s just so gosh, darn easy. Instead of really getting to know you, and trying to tell the difference between particular schools and classes and such, we can differentiate you from that other kid with the same GPA and similar involvement by the statistically meaningless one or two point difference on a test that represents just a few hours of your life. I know, it’s awesome.
Of course, we want you to do well. In fact, pretty much every college will take your highest score on either the ACT or the SAT. Also, most admissions officers use SUPER-SCORING. While this may sound suspiciously like a weak plot device from the last season of “Smallville,” super-scoring is when a college takes the best scores from different parts of a test — say math from one, English from another — and combines them to provide you with an even higher score.
When colleges super-score, they usually say something like, “We’ll use your best scores, because we CARE about YOU.” Riiiiight. Just keep in mind, whether they care about you or not, the higher your scores are means the higher their scores will be too. And trust me; most of them REALLY want higher scores.
Ultimately, this means you really can take the test as many times as you want, and you don’t have to worry about earning any lower scores. Of course, if you REALLY don’t want to worry about your scores, you can apply to a school with a score optional admissions policy. Say, speaking of shameless plugs, since 2006, Mason has had one of the largest competitive score optional admissions processes in the country. So yes, if you think your scores don’t reflect what you’ve accomplished and/or don’t predict what you’re capable of accomplishing, and you’d rather we focus just on your academic records (or if you just hate the tests), you can apply to Mason without your scores, because I CARE about YOU.
Yes, there are lots of reasons to love the SATs. On the other hand, it’s probably the single part of the college admissions process that causes the most stress, even though the scores have far less influence on admissions decisions than your academic records. So relax, and just take the test again if you’re worried. Meanwhile, I’ll be downtown at the Rally for Sanity, or for Fear — or both. Whatever it takes to finally launch “The Daily Dean.”. Or “The Dean Report.”
Until then, I’ll keep Twitter-stalking Colbert and Stewart. Then again, maybe I should just send them my test scores.
Be seeing you.
P.S. If you are into Twitter, and the data would say that you probably aren’t, @stephenathome is Colbert’s account, and it’s hilarious — almost as good as @deanflagel.
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- All’s Fair in College Admissions
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- What Do College Admissions and Piranha 3D Have in Common?
Tags: Political Rallies, Rallies
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