George Washington University drops SAT/ACT requirement

WASHINGTON — It’s one of the most agonizing parts of high school — preparing for and taking the SAT and ACT. The standardized tests have long been a requirement for college applications, but now a D.C. university is deeming the tests optional.

George Washington University announced Monday it is doing away with the requirement that students submit their ACT or SAT scores as part of their application.

The change is music to many students ears — especially those who don’t test as well as they’d like.

“We hope the test-optional policy sends a message to prospective students that if you are smart, hard-working and have challenged yourself in a demanding high school curriculum, there could be a place for you here,” Laurie Koehler, senior associate provost for enrollment management and co-chair of the Access Committee, said in a statement.

The decision to drop the test requirement was announced to the GW community initially and takes effect Aug. 1. The first class affected will be those applying for the 2016/2017 school year.

GW joins hundreds of colleges in the trend, including American University and George Mason University.

“We had concerns that students who could be successful at GW felt discouraged from applying if their scores were not as strong as their high school performance,” Dean of Admissions Karen Stroud Felton said in the statement.

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Aloysius Calvin Strauss

Wow.Just Wow!
burt selleck

The dummying down of American youth continues.
Cait Betamale

This is a natural outgrowth of the generation that grew up playing soccer in which no scores were kept so that everybody could win.

In any event, all one has ever needed to get into GWU was $.
- Aldo Raine
  
  $ and a very high score on the LSAT to get into law school.
  Thought you should know.
jojopuppyfish

SAT is a complete waste. At least the ACT tested you on 4 subjects that you learned in high school
- Emmanuel Goldstein
  
  It could be argued that 10-20% of the courses you take in college are a complete waste. Too many humanitarian and arts courses and “general education” requirements for STEM related fields. Yet, we sucked it up and took the courses. It taught us dedication and that in the real world, sometimes things are just pointless but you have to deal with it.
  
  These kids are being passed along, taught to the test, then told they don’t have to take the SAT/ACT.
Emmanuel Goldstein

Might as well just drop all requirements the way it’s going. If a student can’t put in the time to study and show focus & determination for the SATs, what chance will they have come Freshman year the first time they have a class with 300 students, a distant TA and a course instructor whom attempts to read off of powerpoints in a heavy Eastern European accent?
Archie B.

Students who got excellent grades in dismal high schools will fail in college. This new approach will simply clutter up the first year class.
- Emmanuel Goldstein
  
  I was happy that during my time in college there were what the professors called “lawnmower” courses. The purpose of the courses were to weed out the students that had no reason to be in that major.
  
  Start of semester tons of students by the deadline of dropping a course and withdraw passing without it impacting your transcripts , the numbers dwindled. By the second year you could tell who belonged.
mystery woman

That is unusual for prestigious George Washington University. I’m wonder if Georgetown University is going to do the same.
nottooworried

Let’s see the Freshman drop-out rate in the next 3-5 years.
- Turdly Jones
  
  Schools don’t care about drop-out rates.
John

IMHO, SATs and ACTs testing is not a sure indicator of being successful in college. There are those of us that are smart and capable of doing college-level work but are terrible at taking tests for a myriad of reasons. Testing is just another way of weeding out people so that you can have a manageable number. Speaking for myself, I did terrible on my SATs and ACTs and instead went to Montgomery Community College for one year, got great grades, and then transferred to American University without having to have SAT and/or ACT results as part of the application package. I went on to do well in college and … excuse me for a moment — would you like fries with that? — sorry, where was I? Oh yes, and am now making a living.
Turdly Jones

The College Board and ACT will be suing soon.
- Griefman
  
  Unemployment rate will rise with the layoffs.
kicksandgiggles4Real

GW is simply opening up a new revenue stream – plain. simple.
Angry Nerd

You are exactly right! Now they can charge new students to assess what freshman math and English classes they need to be placed in….and the MoCo kids who won’t have to take standardized tests that they weren’t passing (despite having good grades in those classes) can be their first customers.
Angry Nerd

Given how pervasive grade inflation seems to be in many school districts, this ought to turn out badly when college freshman with impressive high school GPAs are discovered to be insufficiently prepared for college-level math and English classes.
NoCountryForOldMen

And everyone will get a participation trophy! Yay! Maybe they’ll become even more honest and just sell degrees while letting students skip that whole 4 years of classes charade.

Washington, DC News

George Washington University drops SAT/ACT requirement

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