What does the University of California’s decision to temporarily become test optional really mean to international students?
The following quote is taken from an article about the recent decision for one of the “critical, short-term measures:”
“Suspending the standardized test requirement for students applying for fall 2021 freshman admission.”
I’m sure many 11th graders would see this news and be very excited! Yeah! No SAT!!!!
However, is this what it really means?
The short answer is “no.”
Never forget that academics are the main purpose of studying at a university. That means that the most important factor in being admitted is academic achievement. In US schools, a student’s GPA holds the most weight in the admissions process, followed by their SAT scores. For international students, however, individual high schools are less known to the university admissions officers, so the GPA scores are less well understood than they are in the US. This is because admissions officers are quite familiar with the local high schools in their designated areas, so they are able to account for grade inflation and course load rigor. That is much more difficult for them to do in international schools, so admissions officers attach less weight to international GPAs than they do to US GPAs, which means that the SAT scores are even more important for international students.
Now that UC schools will be test optional for this year’s admissions, the admissions officers’ jobs have become even more difficult. You need to look at the admissions process from the admissions officers’ point of view: if they don’t have SAT scores, they have one fewer way to determine a student’s merits.
For those rare students with astonishingly good extracurriculars and leadership roles, lacking a SAT score will not be a problem. Such students will still be able to demonstrate their incredible talents to the admissions officers. For students without such outstanding achievements, though, admissions officers rely on SAT scores to help them understand students’ academic performance.
For students to be competitive, they need to make the admissions officers’ jobs as easy as possible, which means giving them more tools to judge your admission with.
Make sure you take the SAT as soon as it becomes available, and, just as important, make sure you continue to practice while you wait for the next test date. Without the May administration, there is one fewer chance to get the score you need.
For students in grade 10, remember that the coronavirus will pass, and testing will be back to normal next year.
Feel free to leave comments and ask me any questions.
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