Many prestigious colleges and universities today require students to take standardized tests to prove their intelligence and qualification for acceptance. These circumstances have changed throughout the years and will continue to change drastically. One of the most prestigious liberal arts school in the nation, Bard College, has already radically changed the admission process and will be implementing the new process beginning this Fall.

Bard College has decided to switch from focusing on GPA, standardized test scores, and recommendation letters to emphasizing four research papers of 2,500 words each. The research papers will critically indicate whether or not the student is ready for college-level work. The four papers have specified topics: The cardinal values of Ren in “The Analects” by Confucius, Ezra Pound’s perspective on “The Canterbury Tales”, the beginnings of chirality in prebiotic life, and designing an experiment that involves using microbes transplanted from the human biome.

If the papers receive no less than a B+ by college standards, the student is accepted into the university. The radical change of the admission process in Bard College coincides with the current issue of the National Association for College Admission Counseling in considering getting rid of standardized testing altogether. The National Association for College Admission Counseling states that the scores of these tests do not wholly reflect the potential and abilities of students to succeed in a college environment and that some students only require private classes to drastically improve their scores. Furthermore, payment for tests sometimes inhibits students, especially from low-income families,from succeeding since they are unable to afford taking the tests multiple times or to receive private tutoring. In order to make the admissions process fairer, these issues must be addressed.

Other complaints surrounding the SAT include social scholar Charles Murray who stated that “the image of the SAT has done a 180-degree turn. No longer seen as a compensating resource for the unprivileged, it has become a corrosive symbol of privilege.” He goes on to quote Lawrence University’s dean of admissions when he told The New York Times that the SAT used to be about getting a good night’s sleep and doing one’s best the next morning but that it has become a game of the rich acquiring endless preparation while the poorpummel into a spiral of low test scores. So what is the future of standardized testing? Will other colleges follow Bard College’s lead or will their tactics flop, upholding the status quo of the SAT?


Jusong HanTaft
High School
11th Grade