Columbia is the first Ivy League university to abandon standardized tests in the name of ‘equity.’ It's disadvantaged students like me who will suffer.
I agree any alternative admission criteria is MORE biased towards wealth and privilege- letters of recommendation, extra curriculars , etc.
The real and despicable reason these schools want to get rid of standardized tests is so they can more easily racially discriminate against Asian applicants without being sued.
This is a great article. I have been a college professor for 40 years. I grew up in a world of violence, drugs and police. As Joe Namath said, I thought my dad was friends with the police they were over so much. I never expected to go to college and figured I would live the criminal life of my father. But the SATs changed that. I did not do great, but I got into a college with them, and I had some pretty terrible grades and no extracurriculars except smoking weed behind the gym, and one juvenile probation. I ultimately discovered Philosophy and eventually got a PhD at a top University. The liberal arts, which the somnambulant woke want to cancel, and the SAT's that the virtue-signalling universities want to eliminate saved my life, no hyperbole there either.
Recruiter told me I could pick any MOS I wanted. Completed my enlistment as an intelligence analyst, finished college debt free on GI Bill, then matriculated into medical school.
Standard tests were my way out. No one cares about a young Caucasian kid from South East Arkansas.
Progressivism always hurts the poor. Any time wealthy people use “moral judgment” to replace a meritocracy those who could have used merit to change their life situation are replaced by a lottery of uncontrollable biology. Any system that replaces merit with anything is tyranny (I decide what’s right for you - instead of us all agreeing on a testable and provable set of standards used for common evaluation) by another name.
Which university or college you actually go to is SO overrated. Colombia vs. SUNY vs UMass vs Georgetown vs Miami vs almost always ends up meaning nothing in your career. Wise up parents and students, stop this madness, then these "elite" universities and the college industrial complex can be deflated and defeated. A stronger economy, less racism, better workforce, fewer progressives are other benefits likely to accrue.
Yup. I’m an upper middle class homeschool mom with a graduate degree. Before my oldest started high school, I started reading all the books on “holistic admissions” and hanging out on all the websites in order to help my high school daughter play the game. As a result of the insight I’ve gained, I’ve helped her map out an academic plan that involves several AP courses, several dual enrollment courses, and four years of all five academic subjects (as opposed to the much lower graduation requirements most states have).
With my awareness of the “holistic” game, I’ve also tracked down multiple long-term volunteer and other extracurricular activities that align with her academic goals. I’ve guided her in starting a club and finding a certification program for a professional interest that will allow her to start her own business. I’ve helped her strategically plan her summers. I spend hours every week driving her all over the place for a travel soccer team. We will also be sending her overseas for an exchange program. I’m making sure to help her choose opportunities that will allow her to build relationships that will yield strong letters of recommendation. She will be taking an entire 6-week course to help her craft her application essay.
Do you think kids growing up like this writer have parents—or anyone—guiding them through this nonsense? I live on the Upper West Side. All the privileged kids around me are doing these same things. They’re talking about it with their peers and teachers. Their parents are talking about it with each other. I very often think about kids who have no such guidance (like me—my working class parents didn’t go to college, we lived in a low-income neighborhood, and I had NO CLUE). They have no clue what they’re supposed to be doing. The SAT is the equalizer for them. It doesn’t take years of strategic planning. It’s just one test (which I agree should be administered to every student, during the school day).
Well written and informative. I am gobsmacked over the statement that 8/10 17-24 yr olds would not be eligible for the armed services...how is this possible in America? Couldn't read the NYT article as I don't subscribe to that rag. Such a disturbing stat.
I have two children, both have graduate degrees in the math/sciences, one from an ivy and other from a PA state school. So my 'study' has an N of only 2, but I can tell you that the quality of education from the state school was hands down better. Here's one example that still has me steamed...the ivy required my daughter to have an internship of X hours in order to graduate. They provided literally 0 support, advice, connections, etc. ZERO. She applied to at least 25-30 internships via LinkedIn, other online services and got one interview. As a last resort, I told her to hit up her advisor and offer her FREE services to do anything that she could in the summer. Of course, they found work for her to do because she was FREE (and eventually offered her a job upon graduation). In return, we were paying $65K/year. Kinda sickens me that we got sucked into the "OMG, you got into COLUMBIA!!!!...how could you NOT go?". Well, she could've NOT gone.
I've lost confidence and respect in higher education and would love to see some seriously big changes, but that will never happen because of how much money is at stake.
"A study at Stanford found that family income is more highly correlated with admissions essay content than with SAT scores."
Exactly. Stanford doesn’t release the numbers of those successfully admitted without SAT tests, but recently conceded it rejects about 70% of those with perfect SAT scores.
Great piece, Rob. I was a 2.2 GPA student in high school, scored 115 on my ASVAB for the Army, and graduated from UofMN with a BS mechanical engineering degree at a 3.5 GPA working 40 hours a week while in school.
I was a VFW and therefore didn't have to take the SAT but it should be a requirement at a minimum. Or ASVAB. However, I think they are eliminating it to choose people based on immutable characteristics.
We are seeing this in medicine too. In the name of equity, the USMLE medical boards has moved from a score to pass/no pass, and more medical schools are removing grades and going to P/NP. Now students need to do more visiting away rotations and/or take an additional year of research to set themselves apart. Which socioeconomic group does this favor?
I’m the future when you’re going into surgery, don’t worry…your surgeon “passed.”
It's a way for colleges to increase prestige. When you remove SAT scores, more kids are going to apply because they think they have a shot. School's acceptance rate goes down so perception is it's a highly selective school. Same with removing application fees. I have 2 in college. During application process, many school's announced they were removing application fees to remove "barriers." They shouldn't have application fees, but again more kids apply, lowering acceptance rate. If they want to remove barriers, they need to lower the price of the education.
And don't get me started on leveling the playing field. SATs are the only way to level it. I know parents who paid someone to write their kid's college essays, spent a boat load of $$ for their kids to spend a week in Africa working for some non-profit so it would look good on their college resumes. Parents want the prestige of their kid going to some highly selective school just as much as the kids.
Love this article. I'm feeling cranky so believe that dropping the SAT is a way to encourage incompetence and it appears to me to be intentional. I want my surgeon to be highly competent. I don't care if he or she is the meanest person to coworkers or anything else. That is what used to make this country great, highly competent people generally succeeding.
I don't believe in affirmative action based on color but I do believe in it for poverty. As this writer correctly points out, there are huge obstacles that may mask people's ability to succeed, so a more rational approach would be to keep the SAT and weight it based on socio-economic situations.
My father had been a grocer who left school after the eighth grade to help support his family. My mother was a high school graduate and proud of it. So, the SAT and the ACT are effectively gone. Every school copies the Ivies (pulling the forelock to their betters) to show that they’re with it - whatever the “it” of the day is. Consider too, the LSAT. As a middling, not very hard working college student, I took the LSAT. I wrote third from the top in my class. No one could have been more shocked than I was. Sixty plus years later - after a local law school took a chance on me and (based on grades) as one of the editors of the school’s law review - I had a decent career in public service (an assistant district attorney) and then private practice. I’m semiretired; which means that I just can’t give it up. Now the LSAT is to become optional. Optional means gone. Next, the MCAT.
The current buzz word “equity” is causing a lowering of standards. Instead of asking kids to reach for the stars we’re telling them they are not able nor special in order to make those of lessor abilities “feel” better about themselves. I cannot think of any other society other than the communists like Mao, who threw out intellectuals in to the fields or simply killed them.
What is worse is that those who are climate activists are likely pro equity types. They are effectively killing off the scientists who likely will solve the problem of excess CO2. Luddites who want us using pull cars and bikes to transport items and people. I can’t wait for the solar powered bike....all knowing it would be useless to me after being is a bar after sundown. God, there is such stupidity in the chattering privileged class.
I agree any alternative admission criteria is MORE biased towards wealth and privilege- letters of recommendation, extra curriculars , etc.
The real and despicable reason these schools want to get rid of standardized tests is so they can more easily racially discriminate against Asian applicants without being sued.
Excellent article and very interesting information regarding ASVAB scores.
This is a great article. I have been a college professor for 40 years. I grew up in a world of violence, drugs and police. As Joe Namath said, I thought my dad was friends with the police they were over so much. I never expected to go to college and figured I would live the criminal life of my father. But the SATs changed that. I did not do great, but I got into a college with them, and I had some pretty terrible grades and no extracurriculars except smoking weed behind the gym, and one juvenile probation. I ultimately discovered Philosophy and eventually got a PhD at a top University. The liberal arts, which the somnambulant woke want to cancel, and the SAT's that the virtue-signalling universities want to eliminate saved my life, no hyperbole there either.
Mirrors someone I know rather well, myself.
Recruiter told me I could pick any MOS I wanted. Completed my enlistment as an intelligence analyst, finished college debt free on GI Bill, then matriculated into medical school.
Standard tests were my way out. No one cares about a young Caucasian kid from South East Arkansas.
Progressivism always hurts the poor. Any time wealthy people use “moral judgment” to replace a meritocracy those who could have used merit to change their life situation are replaced by a lottery of uncontrollable biology. Any system that replaces merit with anything is tyranny (I decide what’s right for you - instead of us all agreeing on a testable and provable set of standards used for common evaluation) by another name.
"There are poor kids who get bad grades but find a path upward because of standardized testing."
Very true. I was one.
Which university or college you actually go to is SO overrated. Colombia vs. SUNY vs UMass vs Georgetown vs Miami vs almost always ends up meaning nothing in your career. Wise up parents and students, stop this madness, then these "elite" universities and the college industrial complex can be deflated and defeated. A stronger economy, less racism, better workforce, fewer progressives are other benefits likely to accrue.
Yup. I’m an upper middle class homeschool mom with a graduate degree. Before my oldest started high school, I started reading all the books on “holistic admissions” and hanging out on all the websites in order to help my high school daughter play the game. As a result of the insight I’ve gained, I’ve helped her map out an academic plan that involves several AP courses, several dual enrollment courses, and four years of all five academic subjects (as opposed to the much lower graduation requirements most states have).
With my awareness of the “holistic” game, I’ve also tracked down multiple long-term volunteer and other extracurricular activities that align with her academic goals. I’ve guided her in starting a club and finding a certification program for a professional interest that will allow her to start her own business. I’ve helped her strategically plan her summers. I spend hours every week driving her all over the place for a travel soccer team. We will also be sending her overseas for an exchange program. I’m making sure to help her choose opportunities that will allow her to build relationships that will yield strong letters of recommendation. She will be taking an entire 6-week course to help her craft her application essay.
Do you think kids growing up like this writer have parents—or anyone—guiding them through this nonsense? I live on the Upper West Side. All the privileged kids around me are doing these same things. They’re talking about it with their peers and teachers. Their parents are talking about it with each other. I very often think about kids who have no such guidance (like me—my working class parents didn’t go to college, we lived in a low-income neighborhood, and I had NO CLUE). They have no clue what they’re supposed to be doing. The SAT is the equalizer for them. It doesn’t take years of strategic planning. It’s just one test (which I agree should be administered to every student, during the school day).
Well written and informative. I am gobsmacked over the statement that 8/10 17-24 yr olds would not be eligible for the armed services...how is this possible in America? Couldn't read the NYT article as I don't subscribe to that rag. Such a disturbing stat.
I have two children, both have graduate degrees in the math/sciences, one from an ivy and other from a PA state school. So my 'study' has an N of only 2, but I can tell you that the quality of education from the state school was hands down better. Here's one example that still has me steamed...the ivy required my daughter to have an internship of X hours in order to graduate. They provided literally 0 support, advice, connections, etc. ZERO. She applied to at least 25-30 internships via LinkedIn, other online services and got one interview. As a last resort, I told her to hit up her advisor and offer her FREE services to do anything that she could in the summer. Of course, they found work for her to do because she was FREE (and eventually offered her a job upon graduation). In return, we were paying $65K/year. Kinda sickens me that we got sucked into the "OMG, you got into COLUMBIA!!!!...how could you NOT go?". Well, she could've NOT gone.
I've lost confidence and respect in higher education and would love to see some seriously big changes, but that will never happen because of how much money is at stake.
Keep up the great writing :)
"A study at Stanford found that family income is more highly correlated with admissions essay content than with SAT scores."
Exactly. Stanford doesn’t release the numbers of those successfully admitted without SAT tests, but recently conceded it rejects about 70% of those with perfect SAT scores.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/universities-have-turned-into-illiberal
Great piece, Rob. I was a 2.2 GPA student in high school, scored 115 on my ASVAB for the Army, and graduated from UofMN with a BS mechanical engineering degree at a 3.5 GPA working 40 hours a week while in school.
I was a VFW and therefore didn't have to take the SAT but it should be a requirement at a minimum. Or ASVAB. However, I think they are eliminating it to choose people based on immutable characteristics.
We are seeing this in medicine too. In the name of equity, the USMLE medical boards has moved from a score to pass/no pass, and more medical schools are removing grades and going to P/NP. Now students need to do more visiting away rotations and/or take an additional year of research to set themselves apart. Which socioeconomic group does this favor?
I’m the future when you’re going into surgery, don’t worry…your surgeon “passed.”
It's a way for colleges to increase prestige. When you remove SAT scores, more kids are going to apply because they think they have a shot. School's acceptance rate goes down so perception is it's a highly selective school. Same with removing application fees. I have 2 in college. During application process, many school's announced they were removing application fees to remove "barriers." They shouldn't have application fees, but again more kids apply, lowering acceptance rate. If they want to remove barriers, they need to lower the price of the education.
And don't get me started on leveling the playing field. SATs are the only way to level it. I know parents who paid someone to write their kid's college essays, spent a boat load of $$ for their kids to spend a week in Africa working for some non-profit so it would look good on their college resumes. Parents want the prestige of their kid going to some highly selective school just as much as the kids.
Love this article. I'm feeling cranky so believe that dropping the SAT is a way to encourage incompetence and it appears to me to be intentional. I want my surgeon to be highly competent. I don't care if he or she is the meanest person to coworkers or anything else. That is what used to make this country great, highly competent people generally succeeding.
I don't believe in affirmative action based on color but I do believe in it for poverty. As this writer correctly points out, there are huge obstacles that may mask people's ability to succeed, so a more rational approach would be to keep the SAT and weight it based on socio-economic situations.
My father had been a grocer who left school after the eighth grade to help support his family. My mother was a high school graduate and proud of it. So, the SAT and the ACT are effectively gone. Every school copies the Ivies (pulling the forelock to their betters) to show that they’re with it - whatever the “it” of the day is. Consider too, the LSAT. As a middling, not very hard working college student, I took the LSAT. I wrote third from the top in my class. No one could have been more shocked than I was. Sixty plus years later - after a local law school took a chance on me and (based on grades) as one of the editors of the school’s law review - I had a decent career in public service (an assistant district attorney) and then private practice. I’m semiretired; which means that I just can’t give it up. Now the LSAT is to become optional. Optional means gone. Next, the MCAT.
The current buzz word “equity” is causing a lowering of standards. Instead of asking kids to reach for the stars we’re telling them they are not able nor special in order to make those of lessor abilities “feel” better about themselves. I cannot think of any other society other than the communists like Mao, who threw out intellectuals in to the fields or simply killed them.
What is worse is that those who are climate activists are likely pro equity types. They are effectively killing off the scientists who likely will solve the problem of excess CO2. Luddites who want us using pull cars and bikes to transport items and people. I can’t wait for the solar powered bike....all knowing it would be useless to me after being is a bar after sundown. God, there is such stupidity in the chattering privileged class.