<p>Congratulations and well done, coldcomfort! I agree with your argument that the SAT’s can potentially be a great equalizer for students, especially ones coming from a school without a strong rep, high average test scores, or inside connection to college adcoms. My biggest issue with the SAT’s are, however, that we are now in age where a fair percentage of students, particularly those in metro areas and suburbs, avail themselves of pricey tutoring for these tests…and i am talking about $300 per class and upwards. While it is clearly possible to study independently, achieve strong scores, and benefit even more from a bout of self-teaching, the playing field here indeed becomes a slippery slope…not for those who do well without tutoring, but for those who do. Perhaps that partly accounts for the plethora of phenomonal stats we see here on CC…without redonculously priced tutors, would we have the same abundance of 700+ scores? And given two students of average motivation, is it equitable that one who has sufficient financial resources is given a gateway to stellar scores while another is not? This is a quandary that perhaps cannot be resolved… and perhaps when thinking about the admissions process, “fair” is a term that is no longer cogent…if it ever was.</p>