Colleges dropping the ACT and SAT requirements

Posted on October 2, 2020
Some universities – but not all of them – are dropping the SAT or ACT as requirements to get in. (Photo courtesy: Pixabay)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – High school juniors anticipating the ACT or SAT might want to hold the phone.

Many colleges are dropping the standardized tests as an admission requirement. Doug Freed, admissions director at Western Illinois University, says the high school grade-point average is a better predictor of high school success.

“It’s become more of the access / equity issue,” Freed says. “There’s a lot of data out there that show that the standardized tests have some level of cultural bias. Students were taking the exams and maybe not doing as well, but they are very solid students who do well on their grade point average.

“So we really, i think, flipped the paradigm here.”

Freed says it’s about giving more students a chance. And, even though some of the state’s universities have been struggling, “it is not a marketing ploy.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]. 

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