Dartmouth College, a private Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire, announced Monday that it will once again grade standardized test scores. required for admission.
Ann article According to a campus-wide email from President Xian Lee Beilock, the university explained that applicants for the Class of 2029 must submit SAT or ACT scores to be admitted.
Dartmouth College previously suspended requirements for undergraduate applicants in June 2020 due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Other institutions have also suspended requirements, including Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University. MIT has since reinstated its admissions policy.
“This is a pragmatic pause taken by most universities in response to an unprecedented global pandemic,” the school said in a recent report. press release. “At the time, we envisioned the resulting ‘test-optional’ policy as a short-term exercise rather than an informed commentary on the role of testing in the overall assessment process. Nearly four years later, we have been studying the role of tests in our evaluation process. Given their value as predictors of Dartmouth College’s admissions process and student success, we have extended the suspension. and reinstate standardized testing requirements for undergraduate admissions effective for the Class of 2029.”
The university said the requirement “enhances, not detracts from, our ability to bring the most promising and diverse students to campus.”
A new research study conducted by a group of teachers has found that high school grades and standardized tests are the “most reliable indicators of success” in college.
”[The study] We also found that test scores are a particularly valuable tool for identifying high-achieving applicants from low- and moderate-income backgrounds. First generation people who went to college. as well as students from urban and rural backgrounds,” the university said.
Bruce Sacerdote, an economics professor who participated in the research group, said that some applicants do not take the test, even though it can be “very helpful to that student and probably triple their chances of admission.” He explained that he has chosen not to share his scores.
Lee Coffin, vice provost and director of admissions and financial aid, said the study’s findings are specific to Dartmouth and are not “a grand statement about higher education nationwide.”
Last year, Columbia University became the first Ivy League university to permanently eliminate standardized testing requirements for admission. West Virginia University also dropped the requirement, claiming it would make the college application process less “stressful” for undergraduates, Blaze News previously reported.
The ACT reported in October that high school student performance has declined for the sixth straight year, with test scores reaching a 30-year low. The average composite score has decreased by 0.3 points since 2022, according to the ACT.
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