The Ins and Outs of the SAT and What It Means for Oak Forest Kids

Photo courtesy of Alberto Guglielm8 of flickr

If you have a high school aged kid and they have any sort of aspiration of going to college, you, as a parent, have heard of the SAT test. But what is the SAT and how does it work.

The SAT is a standardized college admissions test administered by the College Board which is a non-profit organization. The SAT is a test that was originally designed for the Army in 1926 to access IQ but in 1933, Harvard started using it to evaluate scholarship applicants and by the 1940’s it had become the standard test for college applicants.

The SAT scores are used as a benchmark for almost every college in the United States and it carries weight as criteria for admission into most colleges. Colleges use the score received as one of the most important admission criteria along with GPA and ranking. Basically, if you want to get into college, you have to take the SAT. If you want to get into a prestigious college, you have to score high.

Define high. No university will tell you the exact score you must earn on your SAT in order for admittance, but there is an average that is reported from students that were admitted in years prior. For example, Princeton, which is rated the #1 college in the US this year by US News and World Report, admits students with an average SAT score between 1430 and 1570. Princeton reports that this is not a requirement. It seems that the more prestigious a school, the higher the average SAT.

The SAT has become so powerful that there are hundreds of SAT prep classes, books and tutors promising higher scores for the exchange of hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel for students who either cannot prepare adequately for the SAT or are just horrible test takers. There is about 100 colleges that have changed their policy and do not require the SAT score for admission anymore. University of Chicago, Columbia College in New York, Pitzer in CA, University of Texas in Austin are just a few.

So what does this all mean. It means that SAT scores are not being judged in a vacuum anymore and the ultimate predictor of a student’s ability for success in college is not just a test. The SAT is not being taken as "the" factor, but just one factor.

Colleges are looking at students holistically now, taking into account all factors such as classes taken, overall GPA, class ranking, and activities in and out of school. Colleges also take into account the socioeconomic climate the students are in. So a student who does not have the same opportunities as others, are not judged in comparison.

The SAT is important, don't get me wrong, but if your kid does not do well, it does not mean all is lost. What you can do as a parent who has a successful student but who does not score well on the SAT, is to research the schools that do not take the SAT as the law of the land. Make sure you are informed about all information regarding all the colleges your child is interested in and research, research, research. There are many books available and you should read them all. It is imperative to be educated about the process.

College is a competitive business, and it is a business. If you want to assure that you are doing everything to assure your child's success in life, you need to be informed always. That is all we can do as parents. All we want is to make sure that our kids are getting the best assurance of a successful life .