I like to think that I qualify as an honorary Seven Sister since I took half my classes at Bryn Mawr and was a BMC senior’s “garden party girl” (a moniker that shows my age).
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Can you expand on this a little? I’m interested in what you’re saying here.
btw, my copy of the Atlantic came in (it was late for some reason). I see the cover and the piece you guys are discussing. I’ll give a read.
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Sorry to raise test optional again, but just saw that Claremont Mckenna will start requiring the SAT/ACT and that all of the Ivies now require the SAT/ACT, can’t be long until the NESCACs follow Claremont’s lead?
Certainly not Bowdoin or Bates, both are leaders in the test optional movement. Not sure any of the NESCACs see CMC as a leader? (CMC announced a return to testing for HS Class of 2028 this past Spring.)
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Here is the article from the college paper about the Faculty vote, it seems the Faculty were driving the decision, which suggests faculty at NESCACs have raised the same concerns, have heard similar voices from STEM faculty, even at UC Berkeley which is seriously considering reinstating testing, the tide is turning.
This is quite the leap, do you have a source?
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I have heard math faculty at a NESCAC say that student capability in math has noticeably declined with test optional
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Keep your eye on Amherst. If any NESCAC breaks ranks, it will be them.
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i could see williams and amherst requiring sats (possibly, though i think they’d want a test optional out for some, e.g. questbridge), but the bowdoin, bates, colby, conn college, etc would be very unlikely
Historically, they’re the most prestige conscious of the NESCACs.
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Wesleyan was also a (relatively) early adopter, well before covid. They won’t go back.
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Bowdoin went test optional in 1969. It was the first in the country. Bates did it 15 years later.
Lots of schools were fiddling around with test optional and test flexible during the decade before the pandemic. Wesleyan made this change in 2014. Not to take anything away from the schools who were tinkering with admissions requirements, but there were literally decades in between the start of test optional schools and wider adoption.
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OTOH, it could be Hamilton. Difficult to see how this new admissions initiative would work with TO applicants:
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Yes, wasn’t trying to steal valor. 
Just making the point that schools that had a pre-covid commitment to test optional are unlikely to go back with the current pendulum swing.
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I think Hamilton’s “test flexible” is the answer. Parents of good test takers are in love with the test, and let’s be honest about what that really is: their kid won a race that day and they want the prize for the victory, which is exclusivity. We all want our kids to be special.
It fricking chaps the hides of parents whose kids did well on the test to see other kids who didn’t do as well get the same prize their kid received. Anyone who disagrees with that admittedly cynical assessment should just save it because I’m not listening. That’s my experience, and it’s almost 100%. I’m in the distinct minority in that all of my kids did exceptionally well on standardized tests and yet we as a family do not value them as some big accomplishment in which to rub people’s noses. But practically everyone I know whose kids did well on the test also have this attitude that not scoring well should be a disqualifier from elite admissions regardless of what else the kid has shown in terms of aptitude or academic preparation. What is often dressed up as “we’re concerned about preparation” and “we’re going to be left behind” is really more about that crap than people want to say out loud, which I think is total BS.
On that point, I am so sick and tired of everyone responding by arguing that GPA is so unreliable and can vary so much blah blah blah. We’re not operating on anyone’s brain here or calculating the trajectory of a rocket launch. It’s college admissions. There’s room for judgement and, sure, sometimes you admit someone whose great GPA doesn’t really reflect their actual preparation. But by and large a rigorous high school curriculum coupled with a very high GPA much more often than not indicates what kind of student you’re getting. No, I don’t believe kids can routinely brown nose and con their way into a high GPA w/o doing the work and mastering the material. I don’t recall my kids having a single teacher willing to just give them grades because they like them. That’s far the exception to the rule IMO.
It’s not that I think the tests have no place. But for God’s sake, why not go the way Hamilton has and offer some flex? Ok, you did poorly in the specific context of the CB’s testing, but did well on other tests that indicate preparedness. What’s the problem, then, if what you really care about (which again, I don’t believe to be the case most of the time) is that kids are prepared for the work? Again, I’ll tell you the problem: my Johnny and Sally did really well on the SAT so, along with those bragging rights, I want them to have access to things to which your poor-scoring Davie and Mary should not have access.
I believe admissions people can see through the crap and admit people with the necessary chops. Bowdoin has been doing it for decades.
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Their current president came from Emory which remains test optional and attracts really strong students so I don’t know about that.
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I would like your post 1,000 times if I could. Bravo.
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Resounding yes!
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Love that message. AND when Bowdoin required all incoming students to provide test scores at matriculation, regardless of whether they had been submitted for admissions, those scores were quite high. This suggests that they had something else that was a good proxy for test scores. But that they were still looking for whatever those tests were assessing.
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