Study Reaffirms Mt. Holyoke SAT Policy

Parents Forum
33

<p>Mr. B, I also applaud Mt. Holyoke for its attempts to level the playing field. I also happen to like many of the positions of the school, especially that among the Seven Sisters, it is not a Wellesley clone. </p>

<p>This is the second time I discuss the school; the first time was in the context of the erroneous assertion that Mt Holyoke was the leader in financial aid among all private schools. My conclusion at that that time was similar to my conclusion about MHC’s position on the SAT: it is ALL about marketing. It is a very simple proposition: MHC NEEDS to use financial aid to continue to attract applications, and it needs to maintain its visibility AND selectivity in its targeted pool of applicants. </p>

<p>It would be extremely naive to think that MHC is not keenly aware of the impact of selectivity in applications. You can read the Op-ed titled “SIDETRACKED BY SATS” that was written by Joanne V. Creighton and ran in the Washington Post on Wednesday, January 3, 2001. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/oped/jvcusn.shtml[/url]”>http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/oped/jvcusn.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You’ll see for yourself how much of the discussion was dedicated to the SAT’s negative impact on the lowest SES applicants, and how much there was about the impact of the USNEws rankings. </p>

<p>However, there is much more to learn in Joanne V. Creighton’s Plan for 2010, which I consulted when discussing the financial aid at MHC. It is available at: <a href=“http://www.mtholyoke.edu/cic/about/plan/The_Plan_for_2010.pdf[/url]”>http://www.mtholyoke.edu/cic/about/plan/The_Plan_for_2010.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>One could expect that the changes in the SAT policy would garner some attention … Nah, the SAT is not even mentioned, and there is no mention of any research prior to the changes. However, here’s something that is worth noting:<br>

  • Mount Holyoke College Recruitment Marketing Study: Recommendations for
    Marketing Strategies and Tactics [Art & Science Group, January 1999].
  • Mount Holyoke College Enrollment Plan 1999?2003 [J. Brown, April 1999].
  • Mount Holyoke College Marketing Situation Assessment [P. VandenBerg,
    April 2000].
  • Report of the Task Force on International Initiatives [April 2001].
  • Mount Holyoke College: A Marketing Opportunity and Image Analysis [Maguire Associates Inc., July 2002].</p>

<p>While I am sure that most colleges use research to establish and verify their policies, I was surprised by the dedication of MHC in this regard.</p>