Is It Fair to Award Scholarships Based on the SAT? Colleges are asking this question as they seek more diversity in their student bodies, worry that white students disproportionately score higher and compete for students with merit aid

Wall Street Journal ^ | February 2, 2020 | Douglas Belkin

[karpov]

As schools like the University of California consider dropping the SAT as a requirement for admission due to concern that the test is biased, they run up against another question with a potentially bigger impact for students and their families: Should they continue to use SAT scores to award scholarships?

Colleges and universities give out about $30 billion a year in merit aid, which is often based on a student’s SAT or ACT. An additional $2 billion in merit aid distributed by states hinges on standardized test scores.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts stopped using the test for merit scholarships last year, said Andrew Palumbo, dean of admission. Instead, the school is weighing grades, community service and leadership. The school has made the SAT optional for applicants since 2007.

“Using the tests doesn’t help us achieve our goals” of diversifying the student body, he said. Students who apply without the test are just as successful as undergraduates as peers who do submit the test, he said.

The College Board, the New York-based nonprofit that oversees the SAT, said it has worried for years about income inequality influencing test results. White students scored an average of 177 points higher than black students did and 133 points higher than Hispanic students did in 2018 results. Asian students scored 100 points higher than white students did. The children of wealthy and college-educated parents outperformed their classmates.

Those gaps don’t reflect bias in the test itself but the lopsided distribution of resources across K-12 schools, the College Board has said. The College Board gives schools data to see students’ socioeconomic profile and considered creating a score to reflect this, a plan it dropped amid public objection.

[karpov]

Is it fair for academic institutions to give scholarships based on athletic ability?

The SAT is not biased against Blacks and Hispanics. They do slightly worse in college than their high school grades and test scores would predict.

The ordering of races on the SAT and ACT is the same order found on IQ tests.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Bigots gotta bigot.

[Steely Tom]

They’ve been “seeking more diversity in their student bodies” for about 40 years.

[dfwgator]

I mean come on look at the questions:



“You have been invited over for cocktails by the officer of your trust fund. Cocktails begin at 4:30, but you must make an appearance at a 6:00 formal dinner at the Yacht Club. What do you do about dress?

A. Wear your blue-striped seersucker suit to cocktails and change into your tuxedo in the bathroom, apologizing to your host for the inconvenience.

B. Wear your tuxedo to cocktails, apologizing to your host for wearing a dinner jacket before 6:00 PM.

C. Walk to the subway at Columbus Circle and take the “A” Train uptown.”



Here’s another: “When waxing your skis for a cross-country run, you should…”

[chris37]

Just close these damned things down.

They aren’t teaching anyone anything good.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[Cowboy Bob]

The colleges have over-expanded. They need to fill seats. The only way to do this is import students from abroad or to drop standards for domestic students.

[Larry Lucido]

All colleges should just take the first set of students who apply. Just like they want landlords to do with prospective tenants. Same with athletics. If you can make it onto the field, you qualify. First x-number of applicants are on the team. Eliminate scoring. Everybody gets a trophy. Sponsorships will skyrocket.

[NormsRevenge]

The goal? Diversity?

Everyone is equal in a gulag, right?

The test results reflect the failure of the curriculum and teachers to teach, parents to parent, students to study.

Blame it on whatever you wish, liberal minded institutions are the last ones we should save, the investment ain’t worth the return.

Dumbing the ‘esteemed’ institutions down any more would be waving a white flag to failure as a society and a nation.

[Grimmy]

The system is wanting more Blacks and Hispanics so that they can be more fully indoctrinated into Hate America and thereby be more useful on The Day.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Students who apply without the test are just as successful as undergraduates as peers who do submit the test, he said.

Liar.

[A_Former_Democrat]

Way to go, just keep on screwing white people, esp young males

I’m so sick of this “diversity” crap. Let the “decision makers” give up their own positions and admissions

They never do, do they? It’s always about cheating someone else

Oh yeah, and there are just some things that whites, esp males do better than others. Just accept that

[Balding_Eagle]

There’s the problem illustrated graphically.

[DoughtyOne]

I think we should just get in line and let them choose on race.

Who wants smart people in college anyway. They’ve already got a leg up. It’s the others who need help.

Signed: Mary Doogooderbrand

/s

I always thought that we wanted the best and brightest in college, so the people who attained degrees would advance our civilization.

Tell you what, when I need a judge or a brain surgeon, I’m hoping to land a person who got high SATs, and scored near perfect scores on their university tests.

Anyone here want a 2.00 grade point surgeon?

Anyone here want a 1.75 grade point judge?

Anyone want a professor with a 2.25 grade point average?

When my ass is on the line, I want someone in the mid 3s to nearly 4.

The people in charge these days seem to think if you have a degree, you’re equal to everyone else that has one. Well... NO!

What’s that diploma on the wall mean to me, if a 1.75 license is hanging next to a 3.85 license?

They ARE NOT equal then.

[Jim Noble]

I can argue this both ways.

The SAT is an IQ test, straight up. Intelligence is not the only, and maybe isn’t even the most important, aspect of MERIT.

Take yours truly. 1526 junior SAT (like a dope, I took it again), B+ high school average, class rank 43/468, in other words, gifted and lazy.

You certainly wouldn’t describe my HS career as “meritorious”, and unfortunately for my 18-year old ego, a lot of colleges agreed.

HOWEVER - IQ has a lot to do with college-level work. At any -10%ile of IQ, the work gets harder. Sure, there are hard workers all down the line, some of they are admirable people who have a lot to offer society.

But that doesn’t mean they should go to college, and it ESPECIALLY doesn’t mean they should go to Harvard-Yale-Princeton-Stanford.

Sending a kid below 1450 to H-Y-P-S is signing him up to be tortured. When you look at the suicides, I bet most of them are in this category. 4.0 high school, team captain or club president, volunteer activities benefiting their community, first ever from East Nowhere to get accepted at Harvard, 1300 SAT - BIG PROBLEM. That kid is LOADED with merit. He just doesn’t belong at Harvard.

Smart is good. With the right career - smart guy match, it’s VERY good. But there is much more than that to merit.

[JoeFromSidney]

My final assignment before I retired from the Air Force was as commander of an engineering unit. A full third of my engineers and technicians were Blacks. They all had degrees from reputable colleges. They did their jobs well, and I was able to give awards and promotions to many of them. Granted, they were all from the upper tail of the distribution, But there they were. They existed.

[chief lee runamok]

Admitting low iq students over more highly qualified students loses money that could have gone to professors salaries/beneftis.

I see no downside here.

[glasseye]

Diversity is our greatest weakness.
Diverse = divide.
Who benefits from a divided America?
Answering that question honestly will get you banned in most forums...

[immadashell]

Same with athletics. If you can make it onto the field, you qualify. First x-number of applicants are on the team.

This would be the explanation for, “How Jennifer got a football scholarship even though she is white.”

[leaning conservative]

also wax your bikini line