Question on Test Scores Is Tweaked on the Common Application
The 2010-2011 version of the Common Application, which went live on the Web late on the evening of July 31, includes something of a tweak on the section in which applicants are asked to self-report their standardized test scores to the colleges they are applying to. (Official reports will, of course, be sent to those colleges directly by the scorers of the SAT and ACT, respectively.)
Applicants are now given the option on the Common Application to report only their “best scores (so far),” as opposed to being prodded to report all scores, which was the case in the past.
The change was made in response to a feature introduced last year by the College Board called Score Choice. Through Score Choice, applicants can instruct the College Board to withhold some SAT scores from the colleges they are applying to — provided those colleges do not require the submission of all scores. (You can research those policies here.)
Though the administrators of the Common Application didn’t create Score Choice, they did have to deal with much of the befuddlement that resulted from the policy. One source of confusion is that the all-inclusive way the question was phrased on the Common Application, the universal form that is accepted by more than 400 colleges, seemed to be at odds with the philosophy of Score Choice.
Still, if the colleges receive SAT scores officially from the College Board, why does the Common Application even ask applicants to provide any scores on their own? I asked Rob Killion, executive director of the Common Application, that question last fall, and he said that colleges used applicants’ answers “to speed the processing of their application before official scores arrive.”
Cree Bautista, of Austin, Texas, the first high school student to submit his common application.
As was the case in the past, applicants also can leave this section of the form blank. (Your application will, apparently, still go through.) Still, in light of last year’s confusion, I would urge any applicant (or parent) with questions about this section of the Common Application, or Score Choice, to consult a guidance counselor oe EducationUSA adviser.
Cree Bautista, of Austin, Texas, the first high school student to submit his common application. As was the case in the past, applicants also can leave this section of the form blank. (Your application will, apparently, still go through.) Still, in light of last year’s confusion, I would urge any applicant (or parent) with questions about this section of the Common Application, or Score Choice, to consult a guidance counselor oe EducationUSA adviser.
Meanwhile, more than two dozen additional colleges will accept the Common Application this admissions season, for a total of 415.
*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***
No comments:
Post a Comment