Score Choice Confusion
Score Choice from College Board, the much anticipated ability to cherry pick your best scores to be sent to Colleges rather than having to send all scores, is turning out to be a hotbed of confusion. The two main points of confusion pertain to differing college requirements and how to handle the Common Application. Here are a few points that may help you in the process:
What is Score Choice?
Before score choice, all SAT results would be sent to all of the colleges to which you apply. Most colleges have a policy of taking the highest scores (some even take the highest section from among them all, so if you got a 600 Math and 650 CR in one sitting and a 650 Math and 580 CR in another, they'd take the 650 Math and 650 CR).
Score Choice instituted the ability to pick and choose WHICH sittings of the test you send to colleges to which you apply. However, you must send the entire sitting, so Score Choice won't necessarily hide a poor performance on a particular section of the test.
How Do I Decide Whether to Use Score Choice?
You need to check the colleges to which you're applying to see what their rules are--every college is different. A list of the practices at many colleges is provided on the College Board Site: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/score_choice.html
Go to the bottom of that page and click on the link for: sat-score-use-practices-list.pdf
Although the College Board document covers a lot, I still believe that going to the actual college web site is your best bet for understanding HOW THAT COLLEGE USES TEST SCORES. If they take only the highest scores, then you're really not losing anything by sending them all, and that will simplify your college application process.
Score Choice and the Common Application
Here's where things get sticky. The Common App has a section for self-reporting your scores, and when you digitally 'sign' the Common App, you are signing that you have fully completed the form truthfully, to the best of your ability. So, now that Score Choice has been implemented, what happens if you are applying to 5 Common App schools, and two require ALL scores, while three allow you to send only the scores you want? Can you leave that section blank? According to Inside Higher Education, students won't be penalized for leaving that section blank, but the Common App site's discussion is not so clear.
Nancy Griesemer, an independent college consultant in Virginia, has done extensive research on the Score Choice Issue, and I include here, her article for your review:
What is Score Choice?
Before score choice, all SAT results would be sent to all of the colleges to which you apply. Most colleges have a policy of taking the highest scores (some even take the highest section from among them all, so if you got a 600 Math and 650 CR in one sitting and a 650 Math and 580 CR in another, they'd take the 650 Math and 650 CR).
Score Choice instituted the ability to pick and choose WHICH sittings of the test you send to colleges to which you apply. However, you must send the entire sitting, so Score Choice won't necessarily hide a poor performance on a particular section of the test.
How Do I Decide Whether to Use Score Choice?
You need to check the colleges to which you're applying to see what their rules are--every college is different. A list of the practices at many colleges is provided on the College Board Site: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/score_choice.html
Go to the bottom of that page and click on the link for: sat-score-use-practices-list.pdf
Although the College Board document covers a lot, I still believe that going to the actual college web site is your best bet for understanding HOW THAT COLLEGE USES TEST SCORES. If they take only the highest scores, then you're really not losing anything by sending them all, and that will simplify your college application process.
Score Choice and the Common Application
Here's where things get sticky. The Common App has a section for self-reporting your scores, and when you digitally 'sign' the Common App, you are signing that you have fully completed the form truthfully, to the best of your ability. So, now that Score Choice has been implemented, what happens if you are applying to 5 Common App schools, and two require ALL scores, while three allow you to send only the scores you want? Can you leave that section blank? According to Inside Higher Education, students won't be penalized for leaving that section blank, but the Common App site's discussion is not so clear.
Nancy Griesemer, an independent college consultant in Virginia, has done extensive research on the Score Choice Issue, and I include here, her article for your review:
In response to a few glitches in the system, the members of the Board of Directors of the Common Application have agreed to adopt a “temporary” policy to deal with problems arising from implementation of SAT Score Choice™. Inside Higher Ed is reporting that students will now be allowed to skip—without penalty—questions requesting test dates and scores. While colleges generally evaluate students based on official scores received from standardized test organizations, the Common App asks students to self-report SAT's and/or ACT's so admissions officers can have the information to begin processing applications. Evidently, students are delaying submitting materials—official test score reports and applications—in order to evaluate their options under the new reporting program. Many are waiting to complete all testing before deciding which scores to send. And this is causing a problem.
Unfortunately, the guidance provided by the Common App on its website is not nearly as clear as what is being suggested by Inside Higher Ed. In fact, nowhere on the website is there any indication that students will be given a complete pass on the test section of the form. The only reference to the issue appears deep within the Common App Support Center:
“We recognize that you may find yourself in a position where some of your colleges require you to report your full testing history while others permit you to report your scores selectively or withhold them entirely. While the Tests section does not offer you the ability to differentiate your score reporting to reflect conflicting requirements, leaving this section blank or incomplete will not prevent you from submitting your application. Please understand, however, that colleges and universities may use the information provided in the Tests section to assist in the processing of an application before official results arrive…”
The Common App Board of Directors, representing all member institutions, seems aware of a need to communicate some kind of reassurance to students that they may skip these questions without being penalized in the application process—to hurry things along. In fact, they have been working directly with the College Board to find some resolution, according to Brian O’Reilly, President of the SAT. How this is being communicated to colleges and universities and what it means exactly remain to be seen. Unfortunately, other reports suggest that the wording of the Board’s guidance was much more “nuanced” than what was announced by Inside Higher Ed and it appears that further clarification may be in order.
It is worth noting that the Universal College Application has always been flexible when it comes to reporting test information. On the “online input" screens, certain fields are designated by red stars. Those fields are required to be able to submit. The fields pertaining to standardized testing are not marked with red stars and considered optional. According to Josh Reiter, President of the Universal College App, this was by design so as to allow students time to complete testing and then decide which scores to request and officially submit.
Contrary to what was reported by Inside Higher Ed, both the Common App and the Universal College App permit students to create alternate application forms and send specially-tailored test information to specific colleges or universities. For those students understanding the requirements of the schools to which they are applying, this is a reasonable way to address the problem of differing score report policies. Although this was not the original intention of the function, it works for this purpose. Again, it is the responsibility of the student to conform to all score reporting policies.
For now, I am recommending that my students send ALL their scores to the colleges—the chances of doing so affecting their admissions is very low, lower, in my view, than the risk of running afoul of some rule that has not been clarified, but I'll keep you all posted as new information breaks on this hot button issue.
Unfortunately, the guidance provided by the Common App on its website is not nearly as clear as what is being suggested by Inside Higher Ed. In fact, nowhere on the website is there any indication that students will be given a complete pass on the test section of the form. The only reference to the issue appears deep within the Common App Support Center:
“We recognize that you may find yourself in a position where some of your colleges require you to report your full testing history while others permit you to report your scores selectively or withhold them entirely. While the Tests section does not offer you the ability to differentiate your score reporting to reflect conflicting requirements, leaving this section blank or incomplete will not prevent you from submitting your application. Please understand, however, that colleges and universities may use the information provided in the Tests section to assist in the processing of an application before official results arrive…”
The Common App Board of Directors, representing all member institutions, seems aware of a need to communicate some kind of reassurance to students that they may skip these questions without being penalized in the application process—to hurry things along. In fact, they have been working directly with the College Board to find some resolution, according to Brian O’Reilly, President of the SAT. How this is being communicated to colleges and universities and what it means exactly remain to be seen. Unfortunately, other reports suggest that the wording of the Board’s guidance was much more “nuanced” than what was announced by Inside Higher Ed and it appears that further clarification may be in order.
It is worth noting that the Universal College Application has always been flexible when it comes to reporting test information. On the “online input" screens, certain fields are designated by red stars. Those fields are required to be able to submit. The fields pertaining to standardized testing are not marked with red stars and considered optional. According to Josh Reiter, President of the Universal College App, this was by design so as to allow students time to complete testing and then decide which scores to request and officially submit.
Contrary to what was reported by Inside Higher Ed, both the Common App and the Universal College App permit students to create alternate application forms and send specially-tailored test information to specific colleges or universities. For those students understanding the requirements of the schools to which they are applying, this is a reasonable way to address the problem of differing score report policies. Although this was not the original intention of the function, it works for this purpose. Again, it is the responsibility of the student to conform to all score reporting policies.
For now, I am recommending that my students send ALL their scores to the colleges—the chances of doing so affecting their admissions is very low, lower, in my view, than the risk of running afoul of some rule that has not been clarified, but I'll keep you all posted as new information breaks on this hot button issue.
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