So I'm online looking at stuff for college; mostly when other instant decision days are. It reminded me of an essay I wrote for english at the beginning of the year. It is about how ridiculous it is that college's weight SATs so heavily. I figured I'd put it up.
Worrying About SATs
Senior year is traditionally supposed to be easy and about having fun. You are supposed to take the minimum requirement of classes, and have a good time without completely screwing up your grades. I have worked my tail off for the past three years of high school and I have a very good GPA. I want to have a stress-free, relaxing year as a senior, but my SAT scores are not up to par with my grades. How can I not be stressed when I know that I am just 30 points away from a scholarship? My infatuation with a higher SAT score has taken too much time away from my schoolwork, and I know that I am not the only one.
It is baffling to me that a test that takes four hours would mean more to an admissions officer than a GPA that reflects three or four years (each year 180 days long) worth of tests, homework, and other projects’ averages. There are many students that are just not very good test takers. I have never been a great test taker. The four hour long SAT kills me because my attention span does not last for two hours, let alone four. Another reason tests are so difficult for me is because they are timed. There are many questions that I am sure after some time I would be able to answer correctly with no problem, but when sections are timed many of those questions have to be skipped. I have taken the SATs twice and the ACT once. On all three tests I had to leave at least the last eight answers on each section blank because I had not gotten to them yet.
This summer I sat down with the assistant director of admissions at the Ramapo College of New Jersey. We talked among other things about SATs. I mentioned to him that I was never a good test taker and that my SATs are not a reflection of the excellent student I am. His response was that colleges put weight on SAT scores because they are what affect the college’s rankings, and their president, faculty, and alumni pay attention to that.
The SATs do not affect all students negatively. In fact, they can help many students get into college. There are many students who slacked off during the first one or two years of high school so their GPA is not a reflection of their more recent school ethic. Those students may not normally be accepted with a low GPA, but if they have high standardized test scores they can get admitted into college. For this reason the submission of standardized test scores should be optional: not done away with, yet not the most important factor during the admissions process.
Change is long overdue. Colleges need to focus more on accepting hard working students and less on a four-digit number.
Senior year is traditionally supposed to be easy and about having fun. You are supposed to take the minimum requirement of classes, and have a good time without completely screwing up your grades. I have worked my tail off for the past three years of high school and I have a very good GPA. I want to have a stress-free, relaxing year as a senior, but my SAT scores are not up to par with my grades. How can I not be stressed when I know that I am just 30 points away from a scholarship? My infatuation with a higher SAT score has taken too much time away from my schoolwork, and I know that I am not the only one.
It is baffling to me that a test that takes four hours would mean more to an admissions officer than a GPA that reflects three or four years (each year 180 days long) worth of tests, homework, and other projects’ averages. There are many students that are just not very good test takers. I have never been a great test taker. The four hour long SAT kills me because my attention span does not last for two hours, let alone four. Another reason tests are so difficult for me is because they are timed. There are many questions that I am sure after some time I would be able to answer correctly with no problem, but when sections are timed many of those questions have to be skipped. I have taken the SATs twice and the ACT once. On all three tests I had to leave at least the last eight answers on each section blank because I had not gotten to them yet.
This summer I sat down with the assistant director of admissions at the Ramapo College of New Jersey. We talked among other things about SATs. I mentioned to him that I was never a good test taker and that my SATs are not a reflection of the excellent student I am. His response was that colleges put weight on SAT scores because they are what affect the college’s rankings, and their president, faculty, and alumni pay attention to that.
The SATs do not affect all students negatively. In fact, they can help many students get into college. There are many students who slacked off during the first one or two years of high school so their GPA is not a reflection of their more recent school ethic. Those students may not normally be accepted with a low GPA, but if they have high standardized test scores they can get admitted into college. For this reason the submission of standardized test scores should be optional: not done away with, yet not the most important factor during the admissions process.
Change is long overdue. Colleges need to focus more on accepting hard working students and less on a four-digit number.
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