By: Sofia Turek

When I saw “MIT” on CollegeVine, it required SAT scores to calculate chances of entering MIT. In contrast, UCONN doesn’t require submission of SAT and ACT scores. Why is that?

 

According to Education Week, the answer may be COVID-19. During Covid 19, all SAT score submissions were paused, because classes were onliButne. But, as COVID is gradually having less of a widespread impact, colleges are going back to requiring SAT scores.

 

One of the first colleges that returned to this requirement was UMass Dartmouth, which did a study on SAT scores. According to this school, SAT scores being submitted to colleges helps more students get accepted. However,  over 1900 schools still don’t require the SAT.

 

Clearly, more colleges are requiring SAT scores, and will gradually return to pre-pandemic levels (i.e, all colleges require SAT scores). This is a big shift for early college lookers (people looking for colleges 9th-10th grade), because they use Collegevine or other college chance services and HAVE to input a SAT score.

 

This changes mindsets about early college searching. For example, I rarely search for the likelihood of being accepted into colleges anymore, because results from the PSAT aren't perfectly comparable to the SAT. PSAT scores may get me lower quality colleges, because on the PSATs, it only goes from 400-780 per module while the SAT scales it to 400-800 per module. 

 

The SAT score range shown on the college chances website reflects the level of the curriculum. So, if you send a SAT score of <1570 to an Ivy League School, you’re likely getting rejected. And you know that, so why apply to that school? Likewise, if you send an SAT score of >500 to a school who’s SAT range is 400-500,  you’re getting undermined…and this may be too much of a “safety school”.

 

In general, I personally don’t mind college admissions requiring SAT scores because that’s only for the chance of a college accepting you. It’s also for the quality of a college.  

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