Test Optional: Hofstra is among Hundreds of Schools No Longer Requiring SAT/ACT Scores

This past summer, Hofstra University became 1 of nearly 800 colleges and universities that dropped its standardized testing requirement in order to focus on a more holistic approach, considering applicants’ transcripts, résumés and extracurricular activities in their admission process.

“Many universities have followed suit, both before Hofstra and others are in the pipeline to do so,” said Bob Schaeffer, the public education director at FairTest, who was engaged in a series of internal deliberations among hundreds of institutions over the summer.

High school seniors, who applied for early action and early decision, will find out their admission results from the University around December 15.

“The transcript carries a lot of weight and understanding kind of the environment the student is in,” said Andrew Cohen, the campus visit coordinator in Hofstra’s Office of Undergraduate Admission.

Hofstra considers students’ curriculum and also wants to learn about their prospective students with many counselors traveling to high schools across the country to conduct on-site admission interviews.

“They’re reading the essays and learning more about each individual student as well,” added Cohen, who is familiar with the University’s admission process and standards.

Still, many colleges and universities rely heavily on SAT and ACT scores. The SAT, published by The College Board, tests students’ knowledge of reading, writing and math. Each subject is graded on a scale from 200 to 800. The College Board claims that their test is the “best predictor of your academic success in college,” but colleges like Hofstra are judging their own success rate internally.

“The first thing they do is they evaluate their own admissions data to see what the strongest predictors are of undergraduate success,” Schaeffer said, later adding, “Independent research shows that high school grades predict better than the test, which shows you how truly lousy a predictor the ACT and SAT are.”

The College Board is set to revamp the SAT in 2016, reverting back to a 1600 scale with an optional essay to be given at the end of the exam as opposed to the beginning. The reading section is being altered dramatically to be “evidence based reading writing.” Meanwhile, the ACT is more of an aptitude test, which tests reasoning and verbal abilities.

“The test itself measures a particular set of knowledge and skill that may or may not correlate well with school performance,” Schaeffer said. “For example, the admissions director at Harvard has said that they know how to evaluate applicants who come in with high test scores and low to moderate school grades. Those kids are slackers who will not perform well in college either,” continued the FairTest education director.

Harvard College has received a total of 34,295 applications for admission into the class of 2018. A mere 2,048 applicants have been admitted. Only 6 percent of applicants were admitted into the prestigious Ivy League institution last year. Harvard requires “normally, 2 SAT subject tests” or an ACT with writing. They look for applicants with 700-800 on the reading section of the SAT and over a 710 on math and writing. Their minimum composite score on applicants’ ACT tests is a 32. Comparatively, Hofstra has enough space to accommodate 59 percent of those who apply, but seek well-rounded applicants with a “rigorous college preparatory curriculum in high school” with solid grade point averages.

“I thought that was a really good decision,” said Joy Jones, a freshman journalism student at Hofstra, about the University dropping their standardized testing requirement. “Everyone doesn’t test well and it doesn’t necessarily test your ability to learn and how good of a student you are based on scores,” Jones continued.