Does the SAT Make the College Admissions Process More Fair?

On Thursday, Yale University announced it is reversing its pandemic-era test-optional policy and will again require standardized tests scores to apply. This follows a similar reversal from Dartmouth College, which sparked discussion over the efficacy and fairness of standardized testing.

Restoring Meritocracy? A writer in the New York Post Opinion (Right bias) argued that colleges reinstating standardized tests should be “applauded for restoring a meritocratic measure to the admissions process.” The writer conceded that “the SAT and ACT should certainly not be immune to scrutiny,” but concluded, “overthrowing a major component of the admissions process in the absence of evidence — often at the behest of activists — is no solution.”

Gaming the System? In CNN Opinion (Left bias), Jill Filipovic (Left bias) determined that “The SAT does reflect long-standing racial and economic inequalities, but getting rid of it may actually be worse for underprivileged students.” Filipovic argued that the admissions standards for colleges not requiring SAT or ACT scores “may be even easier for affluent students from more sophisticated families to game.”

Democratize Higher Education? A writer in Forbes (Center bias) argued the SAT serves as a “much-needed reality check” amid grade inflation and the gaming of the admissions process, helping to “level the playing field by providing a check on such machinations.” Countering the argument that the SAT and ACT favor students from high-income families, the writer states, “the SAT was devised precisely because the test-free world was anything but fair,” concluding, “The SAT and ACT were created to democratize higher education. They still play that role today.”