Nov 21, 2013

Page 1

November 21, 2013

voice.scrippscollege.edu

The Scripps Voice Re-envisioning the SAT Admissions The Scripps to Requirement: A Beginner’s Guide Voice incorporate

broadcast productions, submit to

CSPA

By Megan Petersen ‘15 Editor-in-Chief

T

According to the College Board, 1.66 million students from the class of 2013 took the SAT. Photo courtesy of The Huffington Post

By Nancy Herrera ‘15 Staff Writer

S

o, if Scripps College decides to get rid of the SAT requirement, what alternatives are left? When speaking to the admission staff, there is worry about the need for an objective method of finding out the quality of their applicants. Reasons why this is necessary are understandable: measures such as GPA become less useful in comparing students the more schools they come from. This is because a student could get a 4.0 for the same amount of work that earned another student at another school a 3.3. Every school and teacher have different ways of grading. In addition, there is the phenomenon of grade inflation, meaning GPAs have increased over time. This means that GPAs of most applicants to Scripps are now at least 3.8, higher than in the past. Therefore, the SAT and ACT seem like the least bad options, since they are identical tests given to every student. However, as with any “objective test” such as the IQ test, the test is never truly objective, and will always have its biases. This leaves the question: Is there a better way? Because of such high levels of competition among students, other measures have to be taken in order to find

the best applicants, so Scripps engages in its fabulous holistic assessment process. This uses a combination of factors in order for the admissions office to decide whether someone is a great fit for the school or not. Here, we will examine alternative ways that the admissions office can measure students’ ability without requiring the SAT or ACT. Eliminating the option to submit SAT/ACT Scores Let’s start with the most radical option and, at the Board of Trustees meeting, the first option that came up. Scripps could make it so that students cannot submit SAT/ ACT scores to them. They do this by not having a College Board reporting number. By doing this, all students would be on an equal playing field. There is no risk for implicit bias, where students or admissions officers feel that students who submit scores are at an advantage to those who don’t. In addition, every applicant saves money. There are three downsides to this: Scripps might have a slightly lower ranking, because average SAT scores are used. Of course, for agency reporting purposes the College can still collect the scores, but the mean is divided by .9. It also ignores the fact that in our society, the SAT is still considered important, and is used to acquire scholarships and get

into clubs. In addition, this could be a disappointment to students who feel proud of their testing score and cannot report it as part of their application. In light of this, it might be easier for Scripps to make a more gradual transition in terms of the SAT and ACT requirement. Switching to SAT optional This is by far the most common option that colleges take. Part of it is because it sits better politically, and is an easier policy to pass. However, it does offer benefits. The College Board stays content with the college because it is not opting out of their services altogether. This is important, as historically the organization has gone to great lengths to keep customers, most famously in 2005 when the University of California system was about to opt out of the testing requirement. In addition, this allows students who feel proud of their scores to have the choice to continue reporting them to their desired colleges. Usually when colleges are SAT optional, they only offer this option to students who already have a high GPA and/or class rank. This means that students who do not fulfill the exemption requirements still have a chance of admission by submitting their presumably amazing SAT and/or ACT scores.

continued on page 2

Inside This Issue:

Op-Ed: page 4

Economics Columnist Kara Odum ‘15 writes about the financial crisis

Features: page 7

Read about the Black & White Ball coming up next month!

1030 Columbia Avenue | Claremont, CA 91711 | Box 386 email: scrippsvoice@gmail.com | Volume XVII | Issue Six

he Scripps Voice is excited to announce that we will be the first Claremont publication to incorporate video blogs (“vlogs”) and broadcast news into our regular content in print and online. Led by our new video producer, Laurel Schwartz ‘15, we will feature regular vlog contributors and coverage of other news events. We are currently searching for regular vloggers and anyone interested in working with us on this new endeavor are welcome to apply. Application information can be found on our website. We are also thrilled to announce that we will be submitting our publication to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for the upcoming school year. Submitting to CSPA will will solidify Scripps’ reputation as a competitive liberal arts college, and will showcase the work of all The Scripps Voice’s writers, photographers, editors, managers, and, now, video producers on a national level. The submission deadline comes in the summer, so we will have updates on that front more next fall. As always, we continue to recruit new writers and photographers. We are frequently asked if we accept guest columns or articles; we are always open to articles, columns, letters-to-the-editor, photos, and artwork from anyone in the Scripps community. While we do print anonymous pieces, we (the editors-in-chief) do need to know who the author is. We will keep anyone’s identity a secret in print, but the only way we can advocate for and stand behind our paper is if we can verify the content that goes into it. Please let us know if you have any concerns or questions. We accept staff contributor (writer, photographer, vlogger, etc.) applications from all 5Cs. As always, our website is voice. scrippscollege.edu, and we can be reached by email at scrippsvoice@gmail.com.

Athlete Spotlight: page 12 A look at the life of Cross Country runner Tarai Zemba ‘17


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.