SAT optional
Today is a big day for WFU. We announced - via the New York Times, USA Today, and many other outlets - that WFU is the first school in US News & World Report’s top 30 national universities to have an “SAT optional” policy. Meaning that students can choose to send their SAT score to us - or choose not to - without advantage or penalty.
I think this is going to be a good thing for WFU.
I was one of those kids who did poorly on standardized tests but excelled in the classroom and took the hardest courses I could in high school. I got wait listed at places that I should have gotten in (in my humble opinion) because of my SATs. Yet I graduated Magna Cum Laude here with honors and a kickbutt GPA.
There is growing research that the SAT does not accurately predict success in college - and I think my own SATs are proof of that. There is more information and an FAQ online here: http://www.wfu.edu/wowf/2008/sat-act/
The other thing to consider here is that WFU is not lowering its admissions standards. I work closely with the admissions office staff on the Alumni Admissions Forum and alumni children admissions, and I can tell you they have always stressed the importance of the following (in this order): high school curriculum strength (are you taking AP and IB courses?), performance in your classes/GPA, admissions essays and what they reveal of your intellectual curiosity and character, and - last - SAT score. I know our staff reads every single admissions application - some are read by 2 people and some by the whole admissions committee - so they are still going to be treating each admissions application with great care and the same critical eye.
I also personally believe that this move will help counter one of the fears some alumni have expressed - that Mother So Dear is becoming too homogenous. If the SAT does favor those from the most affluent families through some sort of inherent bias, by eliminating the SAT as a requirement, we are going to encourage kids from more rural areas, kids who represent socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, to apply.
Watch in the next several months and see how many other t0p schools follow our lead. I think we just launched a great and revolutionary thing in higher education.