Overheard in Committee – 2014 Early Decision Edition
We Admit It! We have begun Early Decision Committee deliberations. This morning we all gathered in our conference room ready to craft the beginnings of the Class of 2019. Armed with coffee, a cart full of Scooby snacks and genuine enthusiasm for this part of our process, we sat down and opened the first file for discussion.
Throughout our Committee processes, we do our best to give our readers an insider’s look at this vital part of our application review. We pull back the curtain so to speak, and let you in on what we discuss and why we discuss it. So, with that, we present our first “Overheard in Committee” blog of the 2014-2015 admission cycle.
Overheard in Committee today: “I wonder why she didn’t take the SAT again?”
The student whose application we were discussing had taken the SAT only once at the beginning of her junior year. Her score was at the high end of our bottom quartile. Given her strong grades junior year in her first AP courses, and given her score on her first attempt was decent, we believe had she taken the SAT again either the spring of or summer following her junior year, or even the fall of her senior year, her scores likely would have risen to well within our middle 50% range. Furthermore, while some applicants do not see improvement with additional attempts at standardized testing, many do simply by having already taken the exam. The second time around they know what to expect, where to focus their energies and what if any areas to focus on for improvement. This student’s other credentials were fine but not exceptional (much like her SAT score) so having a higher SAT score certainly could have helped improve her standing within our competitive applicant pool.
We know standardized testing isn’t how you want to spend the Saturday mornings of your junior and senior years of high school. We are certainly not advocating that students sit for an unnecessary number of exams. But, like any other component of the application, why wouldn’t you do everything in your power to put your best foot forward? You pick good courses, you work hard to earn strong grades, you involve yourself thoughtfully and passionately in extracurricular activities, you pick those who will sing your praises to write recommendations and you spent hours crafting your essay(s). Why should standardized testing be any different? If you hit it out of the park on your first attempt, that’s great! But for most students, practice makes perfect (well, likely not perfect, but at least makes for improvement). Try the test again or try the other exam. It can’t hurt you. If your score does not improve we’ll use your original score.
Standardized testing is tough. It’s not without its controversies and detractors. But it’s also still, in most cases, part of applying to college. At W&M, the SAT or ACT is one part of our process; no more than that, and no less than that. Like any other component of the application it can make you a more or less competitive applicant, and it is part of what we consider when rendering a decision. The point of this blog is not to criticize someone for getting a lower score but to underscore that just like every part of our process, we apply context. With standardized testing it’s not just what score you got but when did you take the exam, how many times, was a prep course part of your school schedule, is there an academic theme (meaning maybe your math grades are lower and likewise the math component of your SAT/ACT is lower), etc. Additionally, it’s to encourage future applicants to give themselves the opportunity to showcase their best selves in all parts of the application.
This is just one example of what we discuss during Committee deliberations and why. The questions we ask, the back-and-forth we exchange all help to inform our decisions and craft the best class we can.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Comments are closed on posts older than one year, but we still want to hear from you. If you have a comment or question for us, please email admission@wm.edu.
Since you started reviewing applications today, would you say that there is a chance we could find out next week or before December 1st if we were admitted or not?
@ED, we will be in committee until we break for the holiday and likely will finish up some Early Decision review when the holiday is over. While we cannot speculate on a date for a decision release (we will blog on that soon) it will not be by December 1. Our early December release timeline is still on track.
Is this going to be the only “Overheard in Committee” for the 2014 ED applicants? I certainly hope not. These were great reading for me as a Junior and provide intriguing insight this year. I look forward to early December.
@Nervous, But Determined, we hope to do another one next week.
Do you view current 1st quarter grades for the applicants during the ED review?
@Alex, we do if they’re submitted. Here’s a blog we wrote about that very subject: http://wmblogs.wm.edu/admiss/early-decision-questions-answered-senior-year-grades/
You mentioned that the effort a student puts into the SAT is important (how many times taken, and if there was a prep course). I was under the impression, from College Board, that colleges receive only “super scores.” Does College Board also give you more information, such as how many times the test was taken? Also, how do you know if the student took a prep course?
@Lauri, we get whatever scores you choose to report to us. W&M chooses to super score the SAT. In the Common App, you can tell us how many times you took the SAT (you can also choose not to complete that section). As for the prep course, we certainly don’t always know but sometimes the course is on a transcript, other times we know the school and know that the offer one. Sometimes a student tells us they took a course. We work with what information we have but again, we do our best to give whatever context we can (which also includes whether or not a student is first-generation, whether English is their first language, etc.) when evaluating standardized testing.
College board, trying to stay relevant, would probably sell the type of toilet paper applicants use to all these colleges. It is sad really and chances are the stuff they do in the background and get away with would not even pass minimal legality tests from the privacy and confidentiality perspective. This college industrial complex is totally out of control. I think W&M is one of the last few schools that still cares about education, but I do not necessarily agree with the “Nobody got fired for hiring IBM” approach presented in the blog as far as SAT’s relevance and/or prediction power. All colleges need to reinvent themselves A to Z.
@Fedup, we’re not quite sure what you mean about our approach to this blog but we do recognize that standardized testing is a hot-button issue and one people often feel strongly about. We understand that and that’s why we do our best to evaluate standardized test results in context for individual applicants. Standardized testing is in no way perfect and that’s why we consider MANY factors beyond the SAT and ACT. We certainly focus more of our review on a transcript than standardized test scores but they are part of the process still for most colleges and universities.
I am an ED applicant and I recieved my November SAT subject scores today. I know that the process of reviewing our applications is close to ending, so would it be too late to send SAT scores for it to be considered in the ED process? Thank you!
@ED Applicant, you’re welcome to send them. If we can review them, we will but that might be tough in these later stages of our review process. Keep in mind though SAT subject tests are entirely optional. Since we don’t expect them to be part of the application it’s ok to not send them if you prefer.
If I accidentally sent an SAT with none of my best scores, will that have a negative effect on my application?
@IfYou’llHaveMe, assuming you also reported your best scores, no that won’t hurt you at all.