Hello everyone,
Well as everyone knows, Juniors and Seniors have to take a lot of exams that are required for college entrance. However, as i was writing down all the exams down, i was wondering, why do we have to take these exams? What do they reveal about the character of an individual?. I always wondered why I have been taking these test and what they serve for my career. As we all know, high school is the stepping stone of what reality and life is going to be. Nevertheless, I believe that students should not be killing themselves for these exams that try to define who we really are academically. I believe when you apply for a college you must have more personality, character, and individualism rather than a score of an 1800 that states you are qualified. Unfortunately, I've observed that colleges seem to care more about what test score you receive on an SAT exam, or on an Advance Placement Exam is 25% or 50% more important than your qualities and personality. Nevertheless, colleges should look into the academics of an individual but not to make it the key factor of the applicants acceptance into the school. Academics is an important key but not the most important. Realizing myself, with all the exams I have seen and taken, i believe some test should not be include as a requirement, but it is more efficient to look at the individual more in-depth than to judge them from the grades and exam scores.
What should determine the qualification of a student: individuality or a measly test score?
By enriquemarquez14 - Posted on November 1st, 2008
I believe that is what many colleges and universities are leaning towards. Maybe you are just looking at the wrong colleges?
Everybody is an individual and has a unique story to tell. Lots of people have faced challenges. It is impossible to measure some one's character from a few essays they write on a college application or even to divine character in a one hour interview.
Colleges are sorting through thousands of applications. They need an OBJECTIVE measure which can be used to winnow the wheat from the chafe. High School GPA's should be a good measure but grade inflation and variance in grading from one school to the next has made them somewhat useless.
Test scores are probably not the best possible objective measure but they are the only one available. It does not surprise me that colleges place a lot of importance on them.
I was speaking to an Admissions officer the other day and he told me that colleges are not really interested in well-rounded students but rather in well-rounded classes. This causes them to favor kids that specialize. A well-rounded class might have a great violinist and a great high-jumper and a great math scholar and a great linguist. It does not matter to them so much that these individuals are weak in other areas outside their area of focus because when they are put together as a group they form a well-rounded whole. They also want kids with unique life experiences that add diversity including things like where they are from (Wyoming helps), or their race or ethnicity or economic circumstances. The emphasis on well rounded classes causes kids who are solid performers in a well-rounded way but who do not have a specialty or something unique that makes them standout to get somewhat lost in the shuffle.
Personally I am always more impressed by well rounded individuals. I like Renaissance Men (and women).
The ACT is supposed to measure your ability to succed in college. The tests are really nothing to stress over, you just go in and go off what you alredy know. I think that it's wonderful that schools should be selective in the students that they take in, and this selection should be largely based on academic standing.
The things I say the most because this topic upsets me, not you indivilually of course, but the people who think they just get to go to college..
College is a privelege, not a right.
College isn't all about learning more about yourself. It's about taking classes and passing them. It's about learning and doing well. Standardized tests indicate how well you will do in your classes, which reflects back on the college itself. If all their students are doing poorly, then they won't get as much support, because they won't have the best reputation.
~C
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