Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown reinstated standardized test requirements in admissions applications within the last month, citing studies that claim these tests predict who will excel in college and give an advantage to students with limited resources. However, not all schools share these sentiments. In an exclusive interview, Paul Seegert, Director of Admissions at the University of Washington, shared his thoughts with The Messenger.
Seegert insists that these tests are not a true testament to a student’s ability. “One day of their lives, for us, isn’t anywhere near as significant as all of the courses that students take, where they spend weeks and months… writing papers and taking exams,” Seegert said. UW has been test-optional since 2021 and uses a “holistic review,” a process with the goal of considering applicants’ lived experiences and choices instead of test scores. Seegert made sure to emphasize the importance of a student’s course load in all four years of high school, even in their senior year.
In statements following their decisions, both schools referred to studies claiming standardized tests are the best predictor of a student’s success in college. One Dartmouth study found a direct linear relationship between SAT scores and first-year college GPA. Seegert had a different perspective. “Over time, SAT scores were not very predictive of success; grades were a better predictor, but the best predictor for students’ academic success at UW was our own holistic assessment.” Seegert added that data collected by the school showed that, year after year, standardized tests became less of an indicator of success, to the point where they were “not very predictive,” which is why UW chose to move away from them. Seegert ascribed the disconnect between the other schools and UW to a less competitive application pool at the latter, where fewer students with perfect academic metrics are admitted.
After reinstating the standardized test requirement, the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale justified the decision as fairer to all applicants: “Standardized tests are especially valuable for students attending high schools with fewer academic resources and fewer college-preparatory courses.” Seegert refuted this, saying that, along with other elements of an application, high test scores are often redundant, and that the students who get high scores are often the same students who have the opportunity to do other application-enhancing activities.
“When you’re considering test scores, you’re favoring the students that already have those advantages. It’s not helping the students that don’t have those opportunities,” Seegert said. “There’s always going to be exceptions, but we found that if we require test scores it’s not, by and large, helping the student who does not have opportunities.”
“We don’t actually consider GPA in our review, because we’re looking at more than just grades – we’re looking at all the courses that they’ve taken – [and] there are distinguishing characteristics.”
Studies on standardized tests have cited grade inflation as a “persistent, systemic problem, common across classrooms, districts, and states,” according to a May 2022 article in Education Week. Schools reinstating SAT and ACT into the admissions process reasoned that standardized testing allows them to differentiate among students with perfect GPAs. When asked about UW’s experience, Seegert said they were yet to encounter the issue. “We don’t actually consider GPA in our review,” he said, “because we’re looking at more than just [4.0 students’] grades – we’re looking at all the courses that they’ve taken – [and] there are distinguishing characteristics.” He added that UW’s application pool is very different from the other schools’ and that, while UW does receive applications from 4.0 students, it’s not an inordinate amount.
What’s the future of standardized tests? Seegert isn’t sure. “I don’t even know what direction the University of Washington will go. We will continue to assess the higher ed landscape. We’re always assessing and considering and reconsidering… [so] we could go in one direction or the other.”
