Hamilton College has made permanent its five-year experiment that allows students to choose which standardized tests to submit as part of their application for admission.
The decision, which was made prior to the College Board's revelation this week of scoring errors affecting the SAT taken by students in October 2005, follows a unanimous vote of the college's faculty at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 7.
The college will not require the SAT or ACT as part of a student's application, permitting students to choose, from among a specified set of options, which standardized tests represent them best. A student may still submit the SAT or ACT -- as has been the case during the past five years -- or students can choose to provide three different exams from a pre-approved menu of options that include individual SAT scores, SAT Subject Tests (formerly known as SAT-IIs), Advanced Placement (AP) Exams, or International Baccalaureate (IB) Exams. [Acceptable options.]
"Given that fewer high schools are ranking students and there are great inconsistencies in grading practices in high school curricula, there is still a place for standardized testing in selective college admission," said Hamilton Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Monica Inzer. "But we believe students should have the flexibility to determine how best to present themselves to the Committee on Admission.
"This policy serves students well and serves the college well," Inzer added.
Inzer said the main goal of the policy has been to de-emphasize the role of the SAT.
"Our intent has been to send a message about what is important in the admission process at Hamilton," Inzer said. "By making the SAT optional we hope we are reducing the number of families that invest emotional energy and financial resources into test preparation and coaching." She said concerns about test bias for some populations also factored into the college's decision, since Hamilton is committed to attracting and enrolling students from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds.
A secondary goal of the policy was to reduce the pressure on the admission office to admit students solely for their scores -- and to exclude others for the same reason.
"There are a number of qualified applicants who apply each year -- many who rank in the top 5 percent of their high school class -- but in the past we might not have considered them because their SAT scores didn't come close to our average of 1388 [in 2005] for admitted students," Inzer said. "Now we have a way to broaden the definition of achievement and expand the conversation so that it is about more than one exam."
Data show the five-year experiment has been successful. "When I came to Hamilton two years ago and learned of this policy I was skeptical," she said. "But the data prove this has been a good policy for all the right reasons."
Inzer said students who do not submit the SAT have GPAs at Hamilton that are slightly higher (85.6 vs. 85.1) than those who choose to submit the SAT. "Clearly, SAT-optional students fare well academically here. These are students who have earned the privilege to be at Hamilton."
Approximately 40 percent of the students in each entering class have chosen not to submit the SAT since it was made optional at Hamilton in 2001. During the same period, the percentage of students enrolled from underrepresented ethnicities has increased from 13 percent of the class to 18 percent, not including international students. Likewise, the percentage of students entering Hamilton ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class has improved from 63 percent to 70 percent, and the percentage of those ranked in the top 20 percent has risen from 83 percent to 87 percent.
"During the past five years, the academic profile of Hamilton's entering classes has improved, while at the same time we have enrolled a more diverse class," Inzer said. "This is a policy where everyone wins."
Despite the attention paid to making the standardized testing policy permanent, Inzer said Hamilton places significantly more emphasis on a student's high school record when making decisions about whom to admit.
"A student who takes the most challenging courses available in high school and does well in them has the best chance of being admitted to Hamilton," she said. "The Committee on Admission weighs the high school transcript much more heavily than the student's standardized test scores."
Many of Hamilton's peer liberal arts colleges still require the SAT. Bates, Bowdoin, Connecticut College and Middlebury, which, like Hamilton, are members of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), do not.
The decision, which was made prior to the College Board's revelation this week of scoring errors affecting the SAT taken by students in October 2005, follows a unanimous vote of the college's faculty at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 7.
The college will not require the SAT or ACT as part of a student's application, permitting students to choose, from among a specified set of options, which standardized tests represent them best. A student may still submit the SAT or ACT -- as has been the case during the past five years -- or students can choose to provide three different exams from a pre-approved menu of options that include individual SAT scores, SAT Subject Tests (formerly known as SAT-IIs), Advanced Placement (AP) Exams, or International Baccalaureate (IB) Exams. [Acceptable options.]
"Given that fewer high schools are ranking students and there are great inconsistencies in grading practices in high school curricula, there is still a place for standardized testing in selective college admission," said Hamilton Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Monica Inzer. "But we believe students should have the flexibility to determine how best to present themselves to the Committee on Admission.
"This policy serves students well and serves the college well," Inzer added.
Inzer said the main goal of the policy has been to de-emphasize the role of the SAT.
"Our intent has been to send a message about what is important in the admission process at Hamilton," Inzer said. "By making the SAT optional we hope we are reducing the number of families that invest emotional energy and financial resources into test preparation and coaching." She said concerns about test bias for some populations also factored into the college's decision, since Hamilton is committed to attracting and enrolling students from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds.
A secondary goal of the policy was to reduce the pressure on the admission office to admit students solely for their scores -- and to exclude others for the same reason.
"There are a number of qualified applicants who apply each year -- many who rank in the top 5 percent of their high school class -- but in the past we might not have considered them because their SAT scores didn't come close to our average of 1388 [in 2005] for admitted students," Inzer said. "Now we have a way to broaden the definition of achievement and expand the conversation so that it is about more than one exam."
Data show the five-year experiment has been successful. "When I came to Hamilton two years ago and learned of this policy I was skeptical," she said. "But the data prove this has been a good policy for all the right reasons."
Inzer said students who do not submit the SAT have GPAs at Hamilton that are slightly higher (85.6 vs. 85.1) than those who choose to submit the SAT. "Clearly, SAT-optional students fare well academically here. These are students who have earned the privilege to be at Hamilton."
Approximately 40 percent of the students in each entering class have chosen not to submit the SAT since it was made optional at Hamilton in 2001. During the same period, the percentage of students enrolled from underrepresented ethnicities has increased from 13 percent of the class to 18 percent, not including international students. Likewise, the percentage of students entering Hamilton ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class has improved from 63 percent to 70 percent, and the percentage of those ranked in the top 20 percent has risen from 83 percent to 87 percent.
"During the past five years, the academic profile of Hamilton's entering classes has improved, while at the same time we have enrolled a more diverse class," Inzer said. "This is a policy where everyone wins."
Despite the attention paid to making the standardized testing policy permanent, Inzer said Hamilton places significantly more emphasis on a student's high school record when making decisions about whom to admit.
"A student who takes the most challenging courses available in high school and does well in them has the best chance of being admitted to Hamilton," she said. "The Committee on Admission weighs the high school transcript much more heavily than the student's standardized test scores."
Many of Hamilton's peer liberal arts colleges still require the SAT. Bates, Bowdoin, Connecticut College and Middlebury, which, like Hamilton, are members of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), do not.
