Should SAT be Required for College Admissions?

Something growing in prominence is the requirement of disclosing your SAT scores when applying for both elite and local colleges. While covid-19 caused a rise in schools taking more of a test-optional or even test-blind approach, as they were understanding of students being denied the ability to learn, they are now showing signs of reverting to mandatory test scores on a students application.

While some would argue that this is a good change, many would disagree. The majority of big schools throughout the country have SAT and ACT averages barely achievable by many students who have all the other requirements to enter into the high level colleges. 

Take Duke University as an example. They are a school who moved to a test-optional SAT policy, but they most likely will not consider you in the same regard if you don’t. Your chances of getting into Duke are much lower if you don’t tell them your SAT score on your application, but many still don’t. Duke’s admission website states that to be considered, they look for a score of 1520-1570 on your SAT, which is an incredibly difficult score to achieve. This is high in the 99th percentile, something nearly no high school students will be able to do. 

The argument schools make is that there is no standardized schooling, since many different schools teach differently and weigh their grades in distinct ways. This is why it is important to have a standardized test system, so that there is a way to truly measure a student’s intellectual capabilities. Unfortunately, that is not what the SAT truly does. The SAT is really just a measure on a student’s ability to take a test, for many this is their downfall in college admissions. If you aren’t good at long test taking, but still really smart, then you probably won’t be accepted into a good college.

However, many students would disagree with this logic. “I don’t think it should mean as much as it does,” South Hadley sophomore Ryan Netkovick states. “Colleges should look more at overall grades and character than one test. It just seems more fair.” Agreeing with Ryan, I don’t believe that it is fair to determine whether a student is accepted into a college based on one day of testing.