To Standardize or Not to Standardize?

Natalia Perez

As college deadlines approach, our seniors are scrambling. With the announcement that the University of Chicago will no longer accept standardized testing results – why should we still be submitting our ACT scores to others schools? What really makes a student smart? Is it their SAT or ACT score? Vice President of U of C and Dean of Admissions, Jim Nondorf says, “We were sending a message to students, with our own requirements, that one test basically identifies you. Despite the fact that we would say testing is only one piece of the application, that’s the first thing a college asks you. We wanted to really take a look at all our requirements and make sure they were fair to every group, that everybody, anybody could aspire to a place like U Chicago.” This dramatic shift allows for students to realize that they are much more than a test score and ultimately that our score does not determine how smart we are. This is a concept that many colleges have not caught up on quite yet.

Kanyinsola Anifowoshe ‘19 declares, “It’s great, it makes it more accessible for students who can’t afford to send their test scores.” Annika Chrobak-Prince ‘19 also agrees and added, “Standardized tests are not a good depiction of a student’s intelligence.” With the rapid change of policies at colleges around the globe, will we soon be eliminating standardized testing from college applications all together? As more and more students continue to express that their test score does not reflect them, the necessity of remembering not to be too hard on ourselves because of our test scores becomes apparent this college application season. Who knows, maybe standardized testing will become a thing of the past in the near future.