Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

Poll results

On March 15, Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced it would no longer consider SAT and ACT scores when determining whether or not to admit prospective students, following a 2007 decision which made them optional to submit at all. In no longer considering the tests, WPI joins a growing movement aimed at broadening application bases and viewing applicants more three-dimensionally, reporting that, since ending the test requirement, the school has seen 81% more applications from women and 156% more from people of color.

Should all colleges stop considering standardized tests in their admissions?
Yes (58%, 161 VOTES)
No (34%, 94 VOTES)
Other (comment) (8%, 21 VOTES)
Poll Description

On March 15, Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced it would no longer consider SAT and ACT scores when determining whether or not to admit prospective students, following a 2007 decision which made them optional to submit at all. In no longer considering the tests, WPI joins a growing movement aimed at broadening application bases and viewing applicants more three-dimensionally, reporting that, since ending the test requirement, the school has seen 81% more applications from women and 156% more from people of color.

  • 276 Votes
  • 10 Comments
View recent polls

Sign up for Enews

10 Comments

  • March 23, 2021

    To succeed in college, students should have command of a standard body of knowledge, which should be reflected in their SAT and ACT scores. Otherwise, they will be chosen based on warm and fuzzy criteria that don't mean squat in the real world.

  • March 23, 2021
    I am also of the opinion that "teaching to the test" does not result in much actual education!
  • March 23, 2021

    It's not the clearest of questions. Should colleges stop evaluating a student based on standardized test data, or should colleges cease to use? / consider? standardize tests as an evaluation tool. I suspect the answer to both of these will lie in the data from WPI's move. Will these students be successful or are we setting them up for failure?

  • March 23, 2021
    Although viewing applicants three-dimensionally is a plus, it shouldn't water down the talent pool. So they should continue to also consider SAT and ACT scores as part of the process when determining whether or not to admit prospective students.
  • March 23, 2021
    If they stop all standardized testing for colleges then they would also have to stop the testing in high schools to graduate. Teachers are now teaching to these standardized test and the students are not learning other essential areas. They are not learning basics. So many kids are being passed through the school system and they are not able to read past a 4th grade level, if that. If teachers didn't teach towards those standardized test they could teach more of the basics and the students would come out of high school with more applicable skills for their future.