In a bid to boost applications from promising students and students outside the Northeast, Union College has dropped SAT and ACT test scores from its admissions requirements.
In doing so, Union joins about one-quarter of the top 50 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. News and World Report's rankings who have already dropped their SAT/ACT requirement, according to Dean of Admissions Dan Lundquist.
Lundquist said he hopes the decision reaches prospective students with an “exquisitely clear message.”
“Union is a college that values academic performance, and we'll put our money where our mouth is,” Lundquist said. “Admission to Union isn't a formula.”
Prospective students touring campus said they are pleased at the college's decision, but they will still take the SAT for Union and the other colleges they are considering. If they test poorly, they said, they may withhold the scores from their application.
Union joins a burgeoning group that includes Mount Holyoke, Middlebury, Hamilton College and the College of the Holy Cross.
A representative of Skidmore College said that Union's decision is understandable and Skidmore will review its own policy this year. Mary Lou Bates, Skidmore dean of admissions, said a study from Bates College, which dropped its SAT/ACT requirement 20 years ago, shows a broader applicant pool and no difference between students who did and did not submit test scores.
“I think any of us agree that the best predictor of how a student will do in college is their high school record,” Bates said.
Joe Zaino, a high school senior from Dobbs Ferry in Westchester County, took the SAT on Saturday. He said Union's decision offers a “good option” for applicants.
“I think it's a good aspect because I feel like a student is more than one Saturday in October,” Zaino said. With an A average and a full load of International Baccalaureate courses, Zaino said, “I like having the option of deciding what to emphasize.”
As her daughter interviewed with admissions officers, Karen Rusin said she appreciates the message Union is sending. Rusin, from Buffalo, said her daughter was distraught when an SAT testing session was canceled after the recent crippling snowstorm in western New York.
“There's so much pressure on these kids,” Rusin said. “When the SATs were canceled, she was spazzing out.”
Lundquist said accolades have been pouring in from guidance counselors around the country since the decision was announced in the most recent edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education and in a press release Tuesday.
“There has been nothing but effusive praise,” Lundquist said.
Union will still consider SAT scores – “within reason, more data is better,” Lundquist said. And in the hypothetical situation of two students vying for a single spot, distinguished only by an application with or without SAT scores, Lundquist acknowledged that the one with SAT scores will be admitted.
“I know there were going to be students who torture themselves over this one – should I submit them, or shouldn't I?” Lundquist said.
Lundquist said admissions offi – cers expect that students who do not submit SAT results scored on the lower end of Union's range. However, he said, Union will not assume that the scores were deplorable, and in most cases, a strong application will outweigh the omission.
As dean of admissions, Lundquist said that he had long questioned the SATs and recently felt that the time was right for a decision.
“I said I'm seeing a growing case that we need to find a way to exquisitely, clearly emphasize in-class performance,” Lundquist said. The decision was approved by President Stephen Ainlay and the senior administrative group, Lundquist said. He also spoke with faculty and trustees.
Lundquist said momentum for the change has been building over the past few years as Union made a bigger push to enroll students from outside the Northeast, which tends to produce high scores.
“As Union became more and more competitive, we were hearing from guidance counselors, principals and parents, ‘there are a lot of great students out there who are interested in Union … they may be deterred from applying because you require the SATs,' ” Lundquist said.
Lundquist said Union has a long history of questioning the exam, administered by the College Board, a New York-based nonprofit association of more than 5,000 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations, according to its Web site.
In 1987, college faculty released a study showing no correlation between the standardized test scores of Union students and their later performance on campus.
“It didn't matter if the student had strong testing; they didn't perform better than students with low testing. The factor with the most accurate predictor was high school grades,” Lundquist said. “It was one of the first chinks in the armor of the SATs.”
The test has been further undermined by recent scoring mishaps and studies showing bias against certain groups.
“It's been a number of years that the staff at Union have simply not relied a lot on the SAT,” Lundquist said. “What we've done is shifted the bulk of our evaluation on the high school transcript.”