The Hokie Pokey: VA Tech and the New SAT

In this year of changes to the college admissions tests, high school juniors have had three options: take the SAT in its current form, take the revised SAT, or take the ACT. It appeared as if college admissions officers around the country would accept any of the three tests for incoming juniors. Relying on that information, some juniors spent time this summer preparing for the four remaining “old” SATs. Then, in a surprise move, Virginia Tech came forward two weeks ago to announce that it would not accept the current SAT for incoming juniors. While Virginia Tech is still the only school we know of that has made this decision, the announcement has led many parents to express concerns that others may soon follow suit.

This is going to be a most unusual year for the SAT. Students planning to take the current SAT must complete their testing by January, early for a typical student. Students interested in taking the new SAT will have to wait until March to take the first test, and they likely will not receive score feedback on that test until after the May administration, in late May or June. This could be troublesome for students hoping to complete all of their testing by June, particularly for those planning to apply early. Because this year of SAT transitions poses unique challenges, many admissions officers have indicated that they will do their best to make it easy on these students and will accept any of the tests for this class.

Given this, what drove the Hokies to reject the current SAT as an option for this year’s juniors? We reached out to VA Tech’s assistant director of admissions, Christopher St. Jean, and its director of communications, Jennifer Harris, to ask.

Given the sweeping changes coming to the SAT, St. Jean cited a desire to remain “consistent and equitable in [Virginia Tech’s] review process.” He felt that the applicant class of 2017 has “sufficient time to take the new exam;” thus, Virginia Tech will make a “complete transition to the new SAT format beginning with the 2017 applicant pool.” We spoke directly with the Director of Communications, who echoed St. Jean’s sentiments. We asked her about the particular challenges facing this class, with the score delay on the March test. She responded that from the interactions between the admissions office and prospective students, it became evident that most of their applicants planned to take the SAT in the fall, so the March score delay would be of little concern.

This response surprised us greatly. The majority of our students complete their SAT and ACT preparation by June of junior year (allowing them to focus on applications over the summer), and very few wait until senior year to begin the process. Will applicants to Virginia Tech really wait until the fall to take their admissions tests? I have already come across quite a few prospective applicants who have no intention of waiting for the fall of their senior year to commence testing.

Last week, I was lecturing at high schools in Northern Virginia and had the chance to speak with several families whose students plan to apply to Virginia Tech. Some of these students had already enrolled in classes to prepare for the current SAT before the news broke. Understandably, a few parents were frustrated by the fact that their students will now have to prepare for yet another test.

Other parents have expressed concerns that the decision by the Hokies would trigger a broader movement to reject the current SAT for the applicant class of 2017. To date, we have no evidence of this. A small number of schools could follow the Hokies’ lead, but most have stated that they will not take this position, which could place a greater burden on this class. Typically, when an admission test undergoes profound changes -- such as those recently rolled out on the GRE, GMAT and MCAT -- admissions offices allow students a grace year in which they will accept either the old or new assessments without prejudice.

That is not to say that we won’t see more schools begin to shift their testing policies in other, subtler ways. Yale, for example, has said that it will no longer require SAT subject tests, due, at least in part, to the more rigorous and college-aligned nature of the revised SAT. Additionally, as Nancy Griesemer of The Examiner reported, students who apply to the University of Rochester with both current and revised SAT scores can expect the school to weigh their redesigned scores more heavily in admissions decisions.

As more colleges and universities announce official testing policies, we will keep you informed. Earlier in the year we conducted a survey of 50 admissions offices to ascertain their plans for the class of 2017. Many were still in the “wait and see” mode, but soon they will need to take official positions. For now, all evidence suggests that the overwhelming majority of colleges and universities will continue to accept any of the three admissions tests for this group of students.