How important is the SAT to the college acceptance process?
First, for the purpose of full disclosure, this is my opinion of standardized testing in general. The only people who truly benefit from the SAT are real estate agents. A high school proudly proclaims that 99% of the students scored a 2200 or better and everyone wants to move to that town….driving property values into the stratosphere. Don’t get me started on what happens next. That’s a different blog altogether.
Additionally, countless studies have shown that a multitude of variables can negatively affect a score (by MANY points)…everything from an argument with a friend the day before to a stomach ache. Not to mention test anxiety. (Why the heck are so many children on anti-anxiety meds?) Wait until you are MY age….then it’s time for a psycho-pharmacologist…and a good friend named Vinnie)
SAT and the College Process
The SAT is not the tool that gets the student into college. It’s the tool that “allows” the student to apply to that particular college. Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 doesn’t mean victory at the finish line. Wow…look at me…a Long Island Jewish guy with a race car analogy. What’s next? Hockey? If your son or daughter scores a 2300 on the SAT, that is great…..but everyone else applying to that school (or schools) also received a 2300.
Think of the SAT as permission to be taken seriously….along with the other 22, 000 candidates.
The bottom line: The better the score…the more OPTIONS there are. But don’t rush out and start bragging that your teen is going to Yale or Harvard just because of a 2380. (At this point I should insert a hockey analogy but I know nothing other than the last time I went to a fight, a hockey game broke out).
