Smith Drops SATs (Plus, "Smithie Riot", Anarchy, Homofascism, Take Over Library )

TheRepublican ^ | May 26, 2008 | FRED CONTRADA

[fight_truth_decay]

NORTHAMPTON - After several years of de-emphasizing SAT scores, Smith College has decided to drop them as a requirement for admission.

Beginning in the fall of 2009, Smith will make the submission of SAT results optional in the application process, joining colleges such as Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, Bowdoin and Bates in looking at other aspects of prospective students.

The policy change, which was recently approved by Smith President Carol T. Christ, is part of an effort to take a "holistic" approach to assessing applicants, according to Audrey Y. Smith, the college's dean of enrollment.

"What we're assessing is their readiness for Smith College," Smith said.

To that end, the admissions office is placing greater emphasis on areas such as the applicant's writing ability, letters of recommendation and ability to contribute to the community at a liberal arts college.

"It's a very different ballgame," Smith said.

Smith began placing less emphasis on SAT scores in 2000, but still required the test scores on applications. That will change next year. Other colleges have already discontinued the requirement.

"We're not the leader in this, but it's consistent with our values," Smith said.

The change in emphasis at some colleges comes amid a general concern about the validity of standardized scores in evaluating academic potential and achievement. Some feel that the scores are skewed by race and income. Wealthier families sometimes hire tutors specifically to improve their children's SAT scores.

"If you look at the correlation of scores, the higher the family income, the higher the average scores," Smith said.

Black and Latino students also score lower on average than white and Asian students, Smith noted. In light of the discrepancies, colleges such as Smith are looking more closely at applicants' work histories, family backgrounds and ability to overcome adversity.

This year, Smith had the largest number of applicants in its history, according to Smith. There were 3,771 women who applied to the class of 2012, a 13 percent increase over last year. A record 75 percent of the students admitted were in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes. That kind of achievement will remain a priority.

"We're looking for academically talented students," Smith said.

[fight_truth_decay]

$45,606 includes full-time tuition ($33,940), mandatory fees ($246), and room and board ($11,420). Part-time tuition: $1060 per credit hour.. (Cost includes full-time tuition plus additional fees such as room and board and mandatory fees)

Entrance Difficulty Very difficult , 52% of applicants were admitted.

So seems "Graduation Difficulty, Very difficult" as well. If first you don't succeed, try try, try ($$$$$$) again!

Case in Point:

Daughter of a friend was to graduate this month, excited family gathered from as far away as Europe. The daughter had, I am told, been a Smith student for five years. That was as long as her father was prepared to foot the bill. Surprise to all family members that had gathered, she did not graduate as close family members had expected, as this Smith student (surprise!) still needed 3 more classes for graduation.

Mom (divorced) is said to be struggling to find further finances for her daughter for summer school or part of her 6th year?

Another News Note: Smith College had recently experienced a "Smithie Riot" on April 29, 2008. Anarchy and homofascism take over the library at Smith College was a headline. Ryan Sorba’s lecture (sponsored by Smith Republican Club) “The Born Gay Hoax,” was disrupted by radical queers". "After a few minutes police and university officials ordered Ryan Sorba to leave “for his own safety.”(huh...from only 3 angry gay women?)

"After that," continues Mass Resistance.org, "the rioters (3?) used the microphone to exhort the crowd."

"At first, Sorba was told that he could return after about 20 minutes. But after Sorba left, the rioters continued to occupy in the room. They said they were staying in case he came back to make sure he would not be able to deliver his speech. Later the event was completely cancelled for the evening."

"Where is the institutional support for free speech and order on the Smith campus? The college officials present did not take control of the situation. Mr. Sorba’s constitutional rights ( Massachusetts’ Civil Rights statutes) were clearly violated", says the Mass Resistance article with videos.

The Smith college motto is: "To virtue, knowledge."

[Anti-Bubba182]

That makes sense, water the SATs down then abandon them totally.

[IronJack]

Why don’t they save a lot of time and money and just auction off their diplomas? And make sure you print them on absorbent, recycled paper because there has to be SOME use for them after all ...

[Enchante]

"What we're assessing is their readiness for Smith College"

translation: "Are you ready to have your mind, body, and character re-molded by radical angry-lesbo hate-speech freaks who loathe America and loathe your family?"

[Travis McGee]

"Like power to the people, man!"

[PapaBear3625]

To that end, the admissions office is placing greater emphasis on areas such as the applicant's writing ability, letters of recommendation and ability to contribute to the community at a liberal arts college.

They say that the SAT can be coached, but think that parents cant get somebody to help their little darling write an essay? That wealthy parents can't induce impressive people to write letters of recommendation?

Smith will be reduced to the children of the wealthy, plus a few token minorities to maintain the "edginess"

[Chode]

we don't care if they are ignorant criminals!!!

so long as they FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES and they have HIGH SELF ESTEEM!!!

that and the tuition of course...

[Cowboy Bob]

The SATs discriminate against Morons. Liberals are against discrimination. Makes sense to me!

[chainsaw]

Maybe it’s because they couldn’t find enough students that could find their own name in a phone book.

[Sig Sauer P220]

Yes, standardized tests are unfair toward certain races of people. We must eliminate standardized testing.

[Vinnie]

Wake Forest announced the same today. No more SATs.

[Vinnie]

Should have added..
They claim the SATs favor the wealthy.

[sushiman]

” Smith will be reduced to the children of the wealthy, plus a few token minorities to maintain the “edginess” ...

Exactly . That is what this doublespeak means :

>To that end, the admissions office is placing greater emphasis on areas such as the applicant’s writing ability, letters of recommendation and ability to contribute to the community at a liberal arts college. <

[VA40]

And we all know wealthy people are evil.

[SeafoodGumbo]

[Neoliberalnot]

Dropping the SAT is the first step to screaming, we need to fill our ranks with students because applications are insufficient to fill the classes. I saw the 52% of applicants admitted, but remember, all that apply do not accept the invitation for admittance. Students today often apply to 3 or more institutions.

[oldplayer]

This is EXACTLY the way to make sure the children of the East Coast elite continue to gain admission! Some of these dumb bunnies can’t make even 30 on the ACT or 1200 on the SAT, but will have a resume full of politically correct activities. The kids here in Flyover country who work at Wal-Mart and study whenever they can, don’t have a chance. They will never have been to Europe on a summer exchange program or visited Alaska on a “save the wildlife” cruise. The kids here will never be able to raise thousands of dollars from their parents and their parent’s friends for some wacky local charitable project they dreamed up. Those resume fillers will be great for those children of the elite.

BUT, somebody like my son who missed ONE question on the math section of the SAT can now get into Rice (where he went), Stanford or any number of other elite university that uses standardized tests as a large component of the admission decision.

Like usual, the elite take care of their own.

Oldplayer

[rod1]

I am uncertain that 52% means Smith is very difficult to get in to. In fact I think other universities such as Cornell are more in the 10-15% ballpark. University of Phoenix online may well be approximately 53%.

So any exclusivity may well be more in the costs than in the current admission competition.

[wardaddy]

I have friends who kill themselves to get their kids into Northeastern fancy schools.

I would never send my kids there except for maybe grad programs like medical or law or Wharton B.

These schools have become a joke.

Like the Emporer’s New Clothes

[fight_truth_decay]

Some "Seven Sister" Trivia here in case it comes up in conversation:

'Seven Sisters'

..only six can be seen. This reason has been advanced, that of the seven, six mated with immortals and six of them entered a god’s embrace (for they say that Sterope lay with Mars [Ares]." (Gasp!)

"The 'Seven Sisters' (members include Jackie Kennedy (famous for her sunglasses, plus the obvious); anthropologist, Margaret Mead; Katharine Hepburn, great actor and Smithie accent?; Gertrude Stein ("a rose is a rose is a rose"--how hard was that to think up?), Julia Child, star AND played a key role in the communication of top secret documents between U.S. government officials and their intelligence officers. In 1945, she was sent to China, where she began a relationship with fellow OSS employee Paul Child; Emily Dickinson, Wild Nights! Wild Nights! Were I with thee ...), was the name given to Barnard, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, and Radcliffe, because of their parallel to the Ivy League men’s colleges" in 1927.

The name, Seven Sisters, is a reference to the Greek myth of The Pleiades (mythology), the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione. The daughters were collectively referred to as The Seven Sisters and included:

Maia (`grandmother', `mother', `nurse'; `the great one') Eldest and most beautiful of the sisters; a mountain nymph in Arcadia.Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Hermes. Later became foster-mother to Arcas, son of Zeus and Callisto, during the period while Callisto was a bear, and before she and Arcas were placed in the heavens by Zeus (she as Ursa Major, he as either Boötes or Ursa Minor).
Electra (Relative perhaps of Carmen) dark-faced, `amber', `shining', `bright' veiled her face at the burning of Troy
Taygete Lovely, long-necked' - Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Lacedæmon, founder of Sparta, to which she was thus an important goddess. In some versions of the story, she was unwilling to yield to Zeus, and was disguised by Artemis as a hind (female red deer) to elude him; but he eventually caught her and begot (raped) on her Lacedæmon, whereupon she hanged herself.
Alcyone-queen who wards off evil [storms]' Seduced by Poseidon and gave birth to either Hyrieus (the name of Orion's father, but perhaps not the same Hyrieus) or Anthas, founder of Anthæa, Hyperea, and Halicarnassus. Another Alcyone, daughter of Æolus (guardian of the winds) and Ægiale, married Ceyx of Trachis; the two jokingly called each other Hera and Zeus, vexing those gods, who drowned Ceyx in a storm at sea; Alcyone threw herself into the sea at the news, and was transformed into a halcyon (kingfisher). Legend has it the halcyon hen buries her dead mate in the winter before laying her eggs in a compact nest and setting it adrift on the sea; Æolus forbids the nest to be disturbed, so the water is calm for 14 days centered on the winter solstice, called the Halcyon Days. The actual bird does not build nests however; instead the story probably derives from an old pagan observance of the turning season, with the moon-goddess conveying a dead symbolic king of the old year to his resting place. Though this Alcyone and the Pleiad Alcyone appear to be separate individuals, they may be related: in 2000 BC
Celaeno struck by a thunderbolt(`swarthy' - Had sons Lycus (``wolf'') and Chimærus (``he-goat'') by Prometheus. No other data.
Sterope `lightning', `twinkling', `sun-face', `stubborn-face'
and Merope: `eloquent', `bee-eater', `mortal' - shamed for marrying a mortal. Married Sisyphus (se-sophos, `very wise'), son of Æolus, grandson of Deucalion (the Greek Noah), and great-grandson of Prometheus. She bore Sisyphus sons Glaucus, Ornytion, and Sinon; she is sometimes also said to be mother of Dædalus, though others in the running are Alcippe and Iphinoë. Sisyphus founded the city of Ephyre (Corinth) and later revealed Zeus's rape of Ægina to her father Asopus (a river), for which Zeus condemned Sisyphus to roll a huge stone up a hill in Hades, only to have it roll back down each time the task was nearly done..."

In the field of astronomy, a cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus is also referred to as The Pleiades (star cluster) or the Seven Sisters.

(Note ALSO early examples of dysfunction within the family structure of the Seven Sisters)

Other sources of stuff here.