The Editor's View

The Debate About Using the SAT in College Admissions

Volume 2 / Issue 4 / Summer 2002

A debate is brewing over the use of the SAT I for college admissions. Richard C. Atkinson, a well-known psychologist and president of the University of California system, is leading the attack. He contends that the SAT I is a poor gauge for predicting college success and is “compromising our educational system.”

Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, which publishes the SAT, counters that the SAT I is “not a high-stakes test” but is a useful admissions tool when considered along with other evidence of a student’s potential for college success.

We know that the SAT I is not a good measure of mastery of the overall high school curriculum. The SAT II tests (previously called Achievement Tests) are designed to measure mastery in subjects including biology, American history, Spanish, and English literature. The SAT I is also not an indicator of innate intelligence. Indeed, no psychological test can measure innate intelligence without taking into account the inseparable influences of schooling and environment. There are tests specifically designed to measure intelligence, but the SAT I is not one of them.

The SAT I measures verbal and mathematical skills that are important for college success; as such, it furnishes colleges with a relatively easy and inexpensive way to acquire information about students’ abilities in these areas. Colleges also respect the SAT I because it provides a yardstick with which to compare applicants from different high schools and communities.

Thirty years ago the SAT and the student’s GPA were the primary criteria that college admissions committees considered. Today, at such highly competitive schools as Harvard, Princeton, Duke, and Stanford Universities, high SAT I scores and GPAs won’t ensure admission—and they shouldn’t. Admissions committees now consider multiple sources of evidence in support of a student’s application. While a low SAT I score may be an obstacle to admission, it can be overcome by compelling evidence elsewhere in the student’s portfolio.

Notwithstanding Atkinson’s attack, the SAT I probably will continue to figure prominently in the admissions process at the great majority of American colleges. At the same time, it is likely that over the next few years the College Board will substantially revise it. The University of California system is simply too large a customer for the College Board to ignore. Although it is impossible to say what the new SAT I will look like, it is a safe bet that it will be a more accurate measure of the high school curriculum.
—Steven I. Pfeiffer, Ph.D.