What does it take to get into college? Here鈥檚 a snapshot.
How should college admissions be determined? A recent survey of U.S. admissions officers sheds light on what they say matters most.
How should college admissions be determined? A recent survey of U.S. admissions officers sheds light on what they say matters most.
Actress Felicity Huffman faces sentencing Friday for cheating to boost her daughter鈥檚 SAT scores. Between the stream of Varsity Blues headlines and a pending decision in the case accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian American applicants, many people have been wondering how聽American college admissions really work.聽How heavily do they rely on SAT or ACT scores? How many colleges consider athletics, legacy status, diversity, and other nonacademic factors?
The graphics included here provide an opportunity to step back from the societal obsession over 鈥渢op鈥� colleges and see a wide variety of admissions practices, reflecting a higher ed system that includes many open-access and moderately selective schools.聽
Just over a third of institutions don鈥檛 require applicants to submit SAT/ACT scores. Essay questions and personal statements? More than half don鈥檛 consider them.
The information comes from the first comprehensive survey of a nationally representative sample of colleges and universities by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
True, the admissions offices that pore over the most criteria are those at the most competitive campuses. And concerns about fair access there are driving many important discussions.聽
The College Board, which administers the SAT, recently responded to critics by revising a new system, now called Landscape, to boil down data on students鈥� high school and neighborhood factors 鈥� such as the degree of poverty and crime victimization. It鈥檚 meant to boost equity by helping admissions officers put test scores into context.
As admissions reforms take place, educational leaders also need some broader self-examination, says Eddie Comeaux, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, who chairs a committee looking at admissions within the UC system. 鈥淎re we simply giving the illusion that we鈥檙e a champion for change,鈥� he says, 鈥渙r is this real reform, is this something that鈥檚 making the university more hospitable to students?鈥�