Is UT=Ivy of Texas?

jr1038
Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:10:48 +0000

SAT scores not a good predictor of success in college? The minority groups with SAT scores at or below 1100 also have retention and graduation rates at UT that are significantly lower than that of white and Asian students. To reiterate: most students are from the top 10% of their graduating class, so it’s the SAT/ACT scores that show correlation with low GPA’s and graduation rate. Hmmmm…

I can better agree with the notion of an inherent bias towards more privileged students who can take the test(s) multiple times, take prep courses, went to a better school, etc. But with all these factors, it’s still unacceptable to score below national average on the SAT or ACT and go to a school like UT, where, in contrast, over a third of all students are scoring in the 95th percentile on these exams. Just putting in a low threshold like an 1100 (ONLY for top ten students) is a fair thing to do and would do wonders for the overall quality of the student body at UT.