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SAT Optional: How Are We Doing?
Posted: November 14, 2001
Before coming to MHC, the students in the entering class of 2005 had
already distinguished themselves in many exciting ways – now add to
that the distinction of being the first class to be admitted under an
SAT optional policy. While these students were completing their
applications for admission, a task force of faculty and administrators,
supported by a grant from the Andrew Mellon foundation, was developing
a plan to study how our new policy affects admission trends and to
compare the academic performance of submitters and non-submitters over
the next five years.
In a very preliminary analysis of our first year data, Professor
Michael Robinson found some interesting results. Overall, 24% of our
applicants chose not to submit their scores and these students were
represented in all admission rating categories; in fact, close to 20%
of our top rated students were non-submitters. While, as expected,
these students had lower SAT scores* than submitters across rating
categories, differences in their high school GPA and class rank were
not statistically significant – the academic profile of the class
entering this year is strikingly similar to last year’s class including
the rigor of their high school course load and strength of their
writing skills. Worth noting is a regression analysis that revealed
that the high school GPAs of non-submitters were significantly higher
than would have been predicted by their SAT scores; these students
outperformed their standard test scores in high school and we are
confident that they will be similarly successful at MHC.
While we are still in the early stages of our research, these early
results are encouraging. Once again, the admission office has
successfully admitted an excellent class and this year we believe that
we have attracted a number of exceptional and highly motivated students
who may have hesitated to apply to MHC in the past. Stay tuned!
* Non-submitters’ SAT scores are obtained after the selection process for research purposes only.
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