One year ago, Houghton College’s Admissions Office decided to change their policy on standardized test results. The college now allows a student to decide whether they want to waive their SAT or ACT scores during the admissions process, allowing students to instead submit the CLT (Classical Learning Test) for their test scores.
This shift allows students more options and an increased chance of admission to Houghton. It is especially helpful for students from diverse backgrounds, especially those who come from refugee households or underprivileged homes and may need to overcome greater obstacles to take the SAT. Students who choose to opt out of the SAT have their academic scholarships capped at a certain amount, but they are made aware of that before waiving and is an option for them.
Based on last year’s admissions statistics, thirty-eight students applied test optional or waived their SAT scores. Out of those thirty-eight students, twenty-one were admitted. In the pool of admitted students, the average GPA was 3.2 and 76 percent had a GPA of 3.0 or higher. During the fall of 2017, 3.8 percent of all incoming students applied test optional; during the fall of 2018, 8.4% of students chose
The Admissions Office believes that number will grow even higher in the future, and that the consistently standards of academic quality testify to the new policy’s success. Incoming students still boast high GPAs, but many are being admitted whose SAT scores may have inhibited them in the past.
This is especially true of the many refugee students at Houghton College Buffalo and Houghton College Utica. Under New York law, each of a college’s campuses must use the same admissions policy, which posed a struggle for the Buffalo and Utica campuses. Ryan Spear, Houghton’s Director of Admission, was concerned that even students with exemplary GPAs would not be able to overcome the obstacle of a standardized test in their second language.
“In many ways you can buy a better score [on the SATs],” Spear said. “If you’re a student with the ability to pay for SAT classes or a book and you have a guidance counselor helping you, you are going to do better than a student without those privileges.”
He also stressed that “Admissions is a holistic process, and allowing for expanded test options allows for that,” and noted that the Buffalo and Utica campuses are on board and Houghton College Buffalo had an eighty percent success rate with the program already.
Claire Brower ‘18, an international development major, said, “It really doesn’t affect anything once you get to college.” In many ways, Brower is exactly right. Spear also noted that in college, work ethic is often just as important as intelligence. Many successful students have a good work ethic, which a standardized test can never examine or quantify. A student should be allowed to work their way up in college, and sometimes getting a better option at the start can help that.” Carrie Smith ‘18, a psychology major, also succinctly summed up the support she has seen for the policy: “Tests shouldn’t define you.”