Removing the require-ment that SAT or ACT scores be submitted with student college applications may result in an increase in diversity on college campuses, according to a study conducted at Princeton University.
The study — conducted by Princeton sociology professor Thomas Espen-shade and statistical programmer Chang Young Chun — was based on models from admissions data for a variety of institutions that chose to remain anonymous.
According to Espenshade, the study showed only 9.3 percent of students at public universities are black or Hispanic, while 6.6 percent are from a lower socioeconomic background.
Making SAT or ACT scores optional would increase the percentage of black or Hispanic students admitted to public universities from about 11.9 percent to 13.5 percent, Espenshade said.
The percent of students admitted into public universities in the lowest two socioeconomic classes would rise to between 8.8 percent and 10.4 percent.
The percents vary on the amount of additional applicants who would be attracted to apply if the option not to submit scores was available.
In many cases, Espenshade said the number of applicants would increase dramatically if students with a strong academic record felt confident more than just test scores were taken into consideration when applying to schools.
“This removing of consideration of SAT scores altogether is what we call the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” Espenshade said. “What that means is that schools would not ask students for their SAT scores, and if they did tell schools, they would just disregard them.”
According to Espenshade, the policy would result in lower average SAT scores within the college or university’s applicant pool by about 10 points. In addition, a higher percentage of applicants would have scored below 650 on the SAT II subject tests.
In contrast, the proportion of students with high GPAs — especially among students with an A- or higher average — would increase, Espenshade said.
Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, voiced support for the movement to eliminate the importance of SAT scores in the college admission process.
“We support colleges that do not require them to submit SAT/ACT scores,” Schaeffer said. “We think that colleges should choose the admission policy that best matches their own mission and the type of the students they want to attract.”
With the majority of colleges and universities in the United States on the look out for methods to increase racial and socioeconomic diversity among their freshman classes, Espenshade also said he encourages colleges to pursue removing SAT requirements.
Currently, several colleges — such as Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., — have adopted the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Completely eliminating the SAT or ACT portion of the application, however, is still a subject for debate. According to Espenshade, the only college that has completely eliminated the SAT and ACT portion of their application is Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, N.Y.
