The post is a little misleading. MIT will still require SAT or ACT, just not the subject tests.
That's exactly what the headline says.
MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
261–270 of 465 posts
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#262Honestly welcome change. The SAT Subject tests (at least for people around me in HS) were always considered as a much easier test you'd take after the AP for that very same subject. I just equated it to another way for collegeboard to get money especially since the questions were way more straightforward than AP. I am slightly concerned about what this means for schools where AP classes are not offered (I imagine SAT Subject tests presented the most accessible opportunity for these students to demonstrate their aptitude in a subject).
EDIT: changed wording in response to child comment.
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
> an articulate, socially well-adjusted person who can communicate their values and opinions in an intelligent way Yes, that's me. > and who is comfortable making connections with others And that will never be me. Leadership is inherently nepotistic. You simply aren't permitted to lead if you have the wrong class background or the wrong ethnicity. (There's a reason all Senators look exactly the same.) You're literall…
Language is a social creature, you can't have language without society and social interactions, if you're not able to communicate with spoken word you simply can't work as effectively with others. Especially if you can't make connections with others. In fact, most of history the etymology of words wasn't a huge topic because everyone would pronounce the words in their language similarly and thus language wouldn't evo…
> In fact, most of history the etymology of words wasn't a huge topic because everyone would pronounce the words in their language similarly and thus language wouldn't evolve nearly as rapidly--the phoneme is as important as the lexeme when it comes to language.
Uh, what? How do you think we got more than one language in the first place? How do you think we have entire language families with mutually-unintelligable members? Or what about dialectal continuums? If anything, I would posit that we are closer to your statement now than at any other time, because the printing press calcified spelling -- which could vary quite a bit in the time of scribes. And radio and TV and the Internet have started spreading linguistic innovation faster.
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#264The majority of comments in this thread are an abject demonstration of a failure in reading comprehension.
If only we had a test for that...
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. The point about replacing a test with more subjective criteria is completely invalidated when, instead, multiple tests are replaced with a single test. EDIT: Instead of completely invalidated, I should say irrelevant to MIT's change. In another context it could be an important point.
I think the top level comment is based on the assumption that a greater quantity of objective data will lead to a greater weighting of objective data, and a lower quantity will lead to a lower weighting, leading to a greater weighting of subjective measures.
Likewise, there are many skills you can't demonstrate on the SAT such as Spanish language proficiency. For whatever reason I took the French subject test but no AP test, perhaps there are other schools that do this.
The math score might say a little about the other sciences, but the blmultilingual students are going to be disadvantaged by this it seems to me.
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect this is just getting rid of redundancy. Everyone taking the SAT subject tests is probably taking the equivalent Advanced Placement test anyhow. However, the biggest problems with these tests (and the AP tests) is that they are expensive --they cost a non-trivial amount of money to sign up for and they cost a lot of time to prepare for if your school doesn't offer direct AP classes. The expensiveness is the…
Exactly. I took all of the AP equivalents of the SAT2s senior year before starting at MIT. It seemed pointless. And my parents paid for each one. Edit: I meant I took the SAT subject tests along with their AP equivalents.
Aren't the AP tests far more difficult than the SAT subject tests? That's what I remember at least for chemistry (maybe?) back when I took both exams.
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#267Honestly welcome change. The SAT Subject tests (at least for people around me in HS) were always considered as a much easier test you'd take after the AP for that very same subject. I just equated it to another way for collegeboard to get money especially since the questions were way more straightforward than AP. I am slightly concerned about what this means for schools where AP classes are not offered (I imagine SAT…
You can take the AP test without taking an AP course.
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#268Does MIT ask for AMC/AIME scores which are miles above the SAT Math Subject tests?
Yes, they are accepted on the application. Many of the undergrads at MIT qualified for the AIME. A substantial number qualified for the USAMO or IMO as well - just look at the Putnam results every year.
Frankly, in order to stand out among MIT applicants by demonstrating some sort of mathematical ability on these exams, the minimum is probably USAMO qualification (top 270 of ~200k AMC takers). Otherwise it's a nice thing to have but not particularly unique. Even then I know a reasonable number of USAMO qualifiers who have been rejected.
Source: was a MIT undergrad < 5 years ago
Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#269Re: MIT to no longer consider SAT subject tests in admissions decisions
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is exactly correct. Those who fight for fair admissions on the basis of intellectual ability and academic potential should hold up the SAT and standardized testing as a cornerstone of the admissions process. Standardized testing significantly levels the playing field for students across income brackets. Returns on study investment quickly diminish, and reaching a plateau on returns doesn't require much investmen…
While I agree, let's acknowledge the fair critique from the end that is not, "Keeping high-achieving Asian kids out": the part where the tests themselves cost money parents (and school systems) don't have; the part where the study guide in and of itself is not enough to prepare for these exams, leaving us the true, astronomical cost of preparation; the part where this is all begging the question of what admissions te…
> Luck (of birth) got us into this mess, and luck could get us out.
I'm all in favor of adding some kind of RNG to this process. The overpreparation of the wealthy in all kinds of aspects of admissions gives them a big advantage over those who don't. RNG evens it out.