Almost everyone applying to selective schools such as the University of Chicago has SAT or ACT scores. Why wouldn't an admissions committee want to see them? The SAT and ACT offer fee waivers based on income, so how do "tests place an unfair cost and burden on low-income and minority students"?

University of Chicago to stop requiring ACT and SAT scores for prospective undergraduates
by Dawn Rhodes
Chicago Tribune
June 14, 2018

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For years, a debate has simmered at the nation’s universities and colleges over how much weight should be given to standardized tests as officials consider students for admission — and whether they should be required at all.

A growing number, including DePaul University, have opted to stop requiring the SAT and ACT in their admissions process, saying the tests place an unfair cost and burden on low-income and minority students, and ultimately hinder efforts to broaden diversity on campus. But the trend has escaped the nation’s most selective universities.

Until now. The University of Chicago announced Thursday that it would no longer require applicants for the undergraduate college to submit standardized test scores.

While it will still allow applicants to submit their SAT or ACT scores, university officials said they would let prospective undergraduates send transcripts on their own and submit video introductions and nontraditional materials to supplement their applications.

“We were sending a message to students, with our own requirements, that one test basically identifies you,” said Jim Nondorf, vice president and dean of admissions at U. of C. “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 UChicago.”
University of Chicago Drops SAT, ACT Requirement for Admissions:
Prestigious university joins movement to de-emphasize test scores, saying it ‘levels the playing field’
By Tawnell D. Hobbs
Wall Street Journal
June 14, 2018

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The University of Chicago has dropped an admission requirement for students to submit either SAT or ACT test scores, becoming the most prestigious university to do so and joining hundreds of others in the test-optional movement.

The university’s initiative, announced Thursday, “levels the playing field” for first-generation and low-income students, said James G. Nondorf, dean of admissions and vice president of enrollment and student advancement.

“Some students are good testers, some students are not,” Mr. Nondorf said. “We want to remove any policy or program that we have that advantages one group of students over the other.”

Advocates of the test-optional movement praised the decision, calling it a “major milestone.”

“I think it’ll have an effect across the spectrum. It breaks the ice for this real top-tier of nationally selective colleges,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest.

Organizations that administer the ACT and SAT noted that most applicants to four-year colleges go to institutions that rely on the exams to help determine admission.

“Comparing students based on widely different sources of information with no common metric increases the subjectivity of admissions decisions,” ACT spokesman Ed Colby said in a statement.

SAT spokesman Zach Goldberg said that with research on grade inflation showing high-school GPAs are higher than ever, it’s important to have another measure like the SAT.