原文出處：
The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/education/mit-sat-act-scores-admission.html

 

M.I.T. Will Again Require SAT and ACT Scores

The university said it was reinstating the admissions requirement, which it had waived in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, for the 2022-23 application cycle.

By Maria Cramer and Eduardo Medina

March 28, 2022

Students applying to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2022 will have to submit SAT or ACT exam scores, the university announced on Monday, nearly two years after suspending the requirement because the pandemic had disrupted testing for many applicants.

The requirement was reinstated “in order to help us continue to build a diverse and talented M.I.T.,” Stu Schmill, the dean of admissions and student financial services and a 1986 graduate, said in a statement.

“Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants,” he said. The decision will affect first-year students or transfer students who want to enroll at M.I.T. in 2023.

In a Q. and A. posted by the M.I.T. News Office, Mr. Schmill said the office’s research had shown that the university “cannot reliably predict students will do well at MIT unless we consider standardized test results alongside grades, coursework, and other factors.”

 

The move bucks the trend seen at other elite colleges and universities, which have waived standardized testing requirements amid criticism that wealthier students can afford prep coaching and have an advantage.

M.I.T. “is definitely an outlier,” said Bob Schaeffer, executive director at the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. He called M.I.T.’s reinstatement of standardized test scores “an unfortunate decision.”

“So much of the super selective admissions world has decided that test scores are not fair or accurate,” he said.

The University of Chicago, one of the most selective schools in the country, did away with requiring SAT and ACT scores before the pandemic, Mr. Schaeffer said. The school was among 1,075 four-year colleges and universities that instituted test-optional policies before 2020, he said.

During the pandemic, when many high schools were closed or teaching remotely, about 750 additional colleges and universities waived the requirement that SAT and ACT scores be submitted with applications, Mr. Schaeffer said.

 

As of today, more than two-thirds of the 2,330 four-year colleges and universities in the United States have extended making SAT or ACT scores optional at least through fall 2023, he said.

Last May, leaders of the University of California system voted to eliminate test score requirements permanently. And Harvard will remain test-optional at least through fall 2026, Mr. Schaeffer said.

“All the Ivy League schools are test optional for at least one more year,” he said.

Other universities like the California Institute of Technology and Worcester Polytechnic Institute have also waived making SAT and ACT test scores a requirement on applications, Mr. Schaeffer said.

Mr. Schaeffer also noted that M.I.T. had not publicized the research it cited showing that SAT and ACT math test scores can predict success at the university.

“It’s hard to understand how without more evidence,” he said. “M.I.T. math scores are so high on average that there won’t be much distribution in scores.”

Andrew Palumbo, the vice president for enrollment management at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, said on Monday that while he didn’t “begrudge any individual institution for making any decision that’s right for them,” he viewed standardized testing as having “classist, racist, sexist overtones.”

A high ACT or SAT score, he said, is not necessarily the only harbinger of success, especially when that score may have been earned through expensive, specialized classes, which may not be an option for most students.

 

Instead, Worcester Polytechnic Institute puts more weight on a student’s high school transcript because it paints a better picture of academic success over several years, Mr. Palumbo said. The school will not be considering test scores in its admission process for at least eight years.

“It really bothers me — the societal costs — if we continue to let these test scores and what we think they mean be a barrier to better outcomes for students in our universities,” he said.

Even for math-heavy schools like Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Palumbo added, a student’s SAT score is not important.

The math portion of the SAT focuses mostly on algebra, problem solving and data analysis, according to the College Board, the national organization that sponsors the college admission tests.

“It’s not looking at calculus,” Mr. Palumbo said. “So it’s kind of a bizarre tool for us to use.”

In an interview on Monday, Mr. Schmill said that M.I.T. did not publish its data because doing so could compromise the privacy of its students.

Typically, the university enrolls about 1,000 students a year, he said. M.I.T. accepted about 1,337 students for the 2022-23 school year and expects to enroll about 1,100, he said.

M.I.T. said last year that 33,240 students applied to join the class of 2025, an increase of 66 percent over the previous year.

 

The choice to reinstate the requirement is “a very M.I.T. specific decision,” Mr. Schmill said. “I’m not saying that this is the right decision for any or every other school. But for us, we think this is the right decision.”

In his statement, Mr. Schmill said that all M.I.T. students must pass two semesters of calculus and two semesters of calculus-based physics, as part of the university’s general requirements.

“The substance and pace of these courses are both very demanding, and they culminate in long, challenging final exams that students must pass,” he said. “Given this, it is perhaps not surprising that the SAT/ACT are predictive (indeed, it would be more surprising if they weren’t).”

On Monday, he said that students who were accepted when test score requirements were waived had done well so far.

“We had confidence in every student we admitted,” Mr. Schmill said. “For students who don’t have an SAT score, there was something else that gave us confidence that the students would succeed here.”

Jeffrey Selingo, the author of “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions,” said on Monday that some universities might revert to requiring SAT or ACT scores in order to shrink the increasing number of applications received and improve the selection process.

The number of first-year applications through mid-February increased 10 percent from last year, according to the Common App, one of the nation’s most used application services.

 

“What’s the best thing to put a limit on applications?” Mr. Selingo said. “It’s to bring back the testing and require the test.”

 

麻省理工學院M.I.T. 將恢復要求入學新生提交 SAT/ACT 成績

歷經兩年的 test-optional 入學策略後，M.I.T. 再度宣布將 SAT/ACT 列為必要項目，理由是 "根據研究顯示，標準化考試有助於更好地評估申請新生的學術準備情況。(Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants.)" 目前全美有超過 2/3 的四年制大學，仍然會持續 test-optional 的政策，至少到 2023 年秋季。同時，其他 Ivy League schools 至少會延續 test-optional 一年。 批評者認為，恢復採計 SAT/ACT 會對弱勢學生造成不公，因為考試成績可以透過課外補習來提升，且對於學生在大學的表現，沒有顯著的預測效果。也就是說，就算一個新生有較高的 SAT/ACT 成績，也不代表該新生會有較好的學業表現。M.I.T. 則表示，他們的研究顯示 SAT/ACT 有助於選擇更適合 M.I.T. 的學生，但是他們也強調，這不代表其他學校也應該跟進。
如何因應： 是否採計標準考試成績，一直是升學的大難題。無論什麼樣的篩選標準，必然都會產生不公，也無法讓所有人滿意。Test-optional 看似提供了最大的彈性－你可以提交成績，也可以不提交成績。

    

加州大學各校區也於自2020 年起免提交SAT/ACT 成績，因先前曾有學生們控訴test-optional 的政策不利於身障學生。

    

然而，這些招生政策的改變應該如何影響你的升學策略？

    

無論風向如何轉，核心觀點是不會變的：大學想要獨一無二、能夠為學校加分的學生。你應該發展自己的專長，參與有興趣的課內、外活動，展現你真實的服務精神（而不是去搜集服務時數），並隨時顧好學校的課業。

    

如果您最終決定要投入 SAT 或 ACT考試，請確保你能達到高於(或等於)你所申請大學的平均分數，SAT分數在上述範圍內，會提高該大學錄取你的可能性。

 

另一方面，請記住面對test-optional學校，不提交測驗成績並不會影響你的錄取機會，而且也請留意投入考試準備可能並不會為你帶來任何優勢，你可能不想將暑假和週末時間浪費在無效的考試準備上，因為你本可以將時間投入於發展其他領域或是關於其他申請的事項上。

 

提前打造大學志願清單，並記得參考學校網站了解最新的招生政策。

 

歸根結底，美國大學正在尋找具有獨特興趣和聰明且具好奇心的學生——他們希望看到的是這些數字背後的人。

 

If you would like to discuss college options further, please make an appointment with our college counselor Rosalyn Shih ( collegecounseling@vis.tp.edu.tw ) to find out more.
如果VIS同學們想進一步討論如何選擇海外的大學，請與VIS的升學顧問 Miss Rosalyn Shih (collegecounseling@vis.tp.edu.tw ) 預約晤談以了解更多資訊。