Instead of spending much time blogging today (Thursday), I’m going to be talking about college instead. I’m a speaker at an online event put together by College Week Live, which is an organization that sponsors virtual college fairs.
During my 45-minutes presentation, I’m going to be talking about SAT and ACT test-optional policies. Thanks to the test-optional trend, students who bomb on the ACT or SAT can still get into some wonderful colleges and universities. More than 815 colleges and universities are now test optional.
While that sounds great, schools that have trotted out test-optional policies aren’t motivated strictly for altruistic reasons. Schools that allow applicants to ditch the test end up looking more selective that they really are. I wrote about the darker side of the SAT-optional phenomenon in an article for The New York Times this summer. And it’s practices like these that have turned me cynical about the college admission process.
If you missed my talk, no worries. My presentation should be posted on CollegeWeek Live for at last the next month.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution.