The UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools is
proposing major revisions to the UC system’s freshman acceptance eligibility
policy. Most prominent among these changes is the group’s proposal to eliminate
the SAT Subject Tests as a requirement for undergraduate admissions.
In addition to dropping the subject test requirement,
B.O.A.R.S., part of the UC Academic Senate, also recommended several other
revisions to freshman eligibility standards. These include a minimum 2.8
unweighted GPA as opposed to the current 3.0 weighted GPA. Additionally, the
board recommended that there be greater flexibility for students who fail to
complete all “a-g” requirements due to extenuating circumstances, but who
compensate for the shortcomings through other aspects of their course record.
Completion of either the SAT Reasoning or ACT tests will still be required.
The hour-long multiple-choice subject tests administered by
the College Board are designed to measure knowledge or skill in a particular
subject, such as a foreign language, science or history.
Current university policy requires appplicants to take two
tests in any subject of their choice, allowing students to choose the subjects
in which they feel they will do best.
In the
71 colleges require these tests for admission eligibility, most of which are
private schools.
According to B.O.A.R.S. Chair Mark Rashid, requiring
completion of the subject tests not only fails to accurately predict freshman
success, but also hurts the system as a whole by limiting the pool of freshman
candidates.
“The reason for looking at test scores at all is to admit
students with more confidence,” Rashid said. “Once we take into account all the
other information we have at our disposal, the subject tests add very little in
terms of our ability to predict who will do well. This is based on rock solid
outcome data involving tens of thousands of UC students.”
In addition, Rashid said that the current requirement
produces unintended negative consequences because it disqualifies students who
fail to take the subject tests, but are otherwise attractive candidates for the
10-campus system.
“The downside is we know for a fact that there are many high
achieving students in the state with high GPAs and SAT or ACT scores, but they
fail to be eligible not because they didn’t meet the index but because of
deficiency in test taking or course taking patterns,” Rashid said. “This is in
almost all cases taking the subject tests.”
Rashid said that the affected students tend to be those with
limited college funds, as well as first-generation college students, students
from underprivileged schools or students who are not guided through the college
application process by academic counselors or well-informed parents.
According to Rashid, the university misses students like
these, whose lack of application assistance prevents them from jumping through
the necessary hoops.
The College Board, however, contends that the subject tests
give students an extra opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge or skill to
colleges and are a “dependable measure of academic achievement and a good
predictor of future performance.”
The proposal is now under review with the systemwide
Academic Senate. If the senate decides to endorse the proposal, it will go on
to be reviewed by the UC Board of Regents.
In order to avoid impacting students who are currently in
the 10th grade or higher, Rashid said the changes, if approved, would not be
adopted for approximately another three years.
