Cornell University has reintroduced the need that candidates must provide standardized test results in addition to its Ivy League contemporaries.
The New York university made the announcement on Monday in a speech that noted it is awaiting the mandate’s implementation until 2026.
According to the news, Cornell will continue to accept SAT and/or ACT scores for students applying for membership in the fall of 2025. However, these candidates are encouraged to submit SAT and/or ACT scores to the Cornell colleges and institutions that are now test-optional.
Over the past several months, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, and Yale have all announced that they are reintroducing standardized testing for admittance. The University of Texas at Austin and Caltech have likewise embraced this approach. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology reinstated the condition in 2022 now.
The schools were one of almost 2, 000 colleges nationwide that eliminated the requirement for test scores over the past few years, a trend that became worse after the pandemic, when access to check sites became more difficult for students,” according to the New York Times.
” Dropping test rating criteria was widely accepted as a tool to help expand enrollment, by encouraging poor and underserved students who had prospective but did not do well on the tests to use.” However, test supporters claim that without results, it became more difficult to identify promising students who performed better in their surroundings.
At Cornell, the letter to the school community pointed out:
Although standardized test scores are inadequate indicators of a child’s aptitude and possible, the data suggests that when taken in context, these scores can provide useful insights into a student’s potential for educational success at Cornell and help ensure that accepted students are more likely to succeed professionally. After taking into account various variables like high school GPA, student demography, and high school characteristics, those admitted with test scores were more likely to maintain good academic standing and had slightly higher GPAs.
Or as The College Fix just reported:” Ivy League changes head, SATs no more prejudiced”.
But not all schools have given up on their check- recommended policies really however, including Columbia, Princeton and Stanford universities, the Washington Post reported.
The Post reported that” the patchwork of plans is wreaking havoc on applicants, parents, and school admissions consultants nationwide, who are being forced to recalculate where and how they are willing to use or what to tell anxious teenagers about whether to examine, exam, or neglect tests altogether because decisions keep rolling out in real time.”
Colleges are still grappling with the effects of the landmark Supreme Court decision that ended the use of race-based affirmative action in admissions. In a bid to maintain diverse admitted classes, many are carrying out a number of experiments in response to the decision, including adding essay prompts on adversity or identity in some cases, or expanding outreach to low-income areas.
MORE: Ivy League changes mind, SATs no longer racist
IMAGE: Shutterstock
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
