Are SAT and ACT Tests Really Essential for College Admission?

As a follow-up to our series on standardized testing and test-optional colleges, you might be interested in this video by a father-daughter team who are acting out against the SAT.  If you like what they have to say, you might sign their petition at ACToutagainstSAT.org.
 
 

SAT + ACT = Unfair + Biased? from Sam Kauffmann on Vimeo.
 
You should know, however, that Fairtest.org participated in the creation of the video.  That’s not a bad thing at all.  But Fairtest does have a drum to thump.  I happen to agree that these tests are flawed and a poor measure of anything important.  They are credentials, pure and simple.  And it’s true that there is racial and class bias in the tests, and those who get tutors can raise their scores considerably. I’d just as soon see them eliminated–perhaps replaced by scores on state-mandated tests that have emerged out of No Child Left Behind.
The perversion is, of course, that some states like Colorado use these tests as part of their NCLB plan.  So it looks like the tests are here to stay, no  matter how dumb they might be.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
 

Buy, Steal, or Cheat Your Way Into the Ivy League–Secrets Revealed!

Some folks are desperate.  And desperation is the mother of capitalistic invention.

A new online company peddles “verified” student applications to Ivy League institutions.  IvyAnalytics.com offers Ivy-aspirants the opportunity to put in a bit of data about themselves, then matches the student up to a set of applications to your preferred institution.  Allegedly, these “verified” applications resulted in acceptance.  All you pay is thirty bucks, and you have a guaranteed way into the Ivy League.

It was only a matter of time before Ivy League students started prostituting themselves by selling their successful applications. Or, it could be that the folks at IvyAnalytics have moles inside the Ivy admissions offices.  Can’t you just see them taking out their James Bond cameras (i.e., their cell phones) and copying off a few successful applications?

I can only hope that the Ivy admissions offices are onto this scheme, and that they are downloading these apps themselves to cross-check the essays and other bits in order to weed out the plagiarists and the cheaters.

The sad thing is that there are folks who are desperate enough to gain entry to these institutions that they resort to chicanery, and that businesses like IvyAnalytics prey upon that reckless panic.

If the purchasers of those applications were to think for a few minutes about the stupidity of paying 30 bucks for someone else’s application (or five apps for only $100!), perhaps they would realize that every other purchaser would be submitting the same essays, checking the same boxes on the applications, and thereby increasing the likelihood that their application will be tossed in the trash due its suspect nature.  After all, the admissions officer only would have to check the facts on the application against your Facebook profile to find that you are trying to lie your way into the Ivy League.

I’m going to write to a couple of the admissions deans at Ivy League institutions to see what they know about IvyAnalytics.com.  Perhaps they’ll let me reprint their responses here.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

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Accepted or Rejected? The Envelope Please….

Today is April 1st, the day by which colleges and universities across the land must tell their applicants of their decision:  accepted, rejected, or waitlisted.

I was interviewed by Forbes.com the other day regarding my opinion about how students should handle the prospect of being rejected to their first choice school. You can read what I said on the Forbes.com site here.

But the best advice comes from students.  This short video offers the best advice I could possibly give to a student whose hopes have been crushed.  He’s a sophomore who has turned lemons into lemonade.

Take it from this guy…who has been there before…



Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant



Technorati Tags: college, application, admission, rejection, denied, acceptance, advice, Villanova, Harvard, Princeton Del.icio.us Tags: college, application, admission, rejection, denied, acceptance, advice, Villanova, Harvard, Princeton

Wanna Get Into College? Show the Love!

Even in the economic downturn, many of the top colleges are still inundated with applications. Some colleges, like Williams, have experienced a decline in applications. Still, the desks of admissions officers are piled high with file folders containing the applications of qualified candidates–many, many more than they can ever accept.

I wrote a very popular article a while back with some advice about how to “dance with an admissions officer.” I offer some tips about how to show the love to an admissions officer, and let that person know that a college (Williams, for example) is really and truly the perfect college for you.

Then the other day, the Boston Globe published an article proclaiming that colleges now favor applicants who show keen interest.

In many respects, the use of “demonstrated interest” (as admissions officers call it) as a criterion for admission is a repsonse by colleges to the huge increase in applications they have seen over the past decade or so.  The Boston Globe reports figures from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) showing that 22% of colleges now use “demonstrated interest” as a criterion–up from 7% in 2003.

Here’s a snippet from the Boston Globe article that explains the rise in importance of “demonstrated interest.”

The growing importance of “demonstrated interest” is the product of a number of overlapping factors. High school students are applying to a greater number of colleges to better their odds of acceptance, which has made it harder for colleges to estimate how many actually plan to come. This year, the financial downturn and the credit crunch have further complicated the process, with families expected to base their decisions more on cost.

Amid such unpredictability, students who seem excited at the prospect of arriving on campus in the fall are in high demand, admissions officers say. In an ironic twist, the volatile nature of admissions has given students a measure of control over the process.

So, keep up the dance.  Don’t forget to send thank you cards, emails, and Facebook messages to admissions officers at the schools you admire.  Don’t be a nuisance.  But don’t hesitate to flirt!

Mark Montgomery
Educational Planner

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