If you live in a “smart state” like Connecticut, you should be delighted with the SAT

Northeastern snobbery alert…

You and your children are likely consumed with college admissions in relation to your neighbors. But we are in a nationally competitive environment and, for that reason, you should be very happy that we have a test to use to compare our students with those across the country.

What madness am I suggesting? Let me start with the obvious: most Connecticut schools are stronger than most schools in most states. Those in the top 10% of schools such a Guilford High School, Daniel Hand High, Lyme-Old Lyme High School, East Lyme High School, Old Saybrook High School, Valley Regional High School (Essex-Deep River) and a whole host of other public schools in Southeastern, CT have battled competition far stronger than most students throughout the country in order to land in the top 10%.  At private schools, those with As at Xavier, Mercy, The Williams School, Hamden Hall, Hopkins, among others, have earned As that equate to the same exact GPA as those at who earned As at schools that are terrible.

You might think that colleges have a fail proof system to account for these scholastic differences. Not true! Most larger universities feed numbers into an academic index with almost no adjustment for strength of school.  Smaller liberal arts colleges have a better sense as to the strength of the school. But here I have to report to that most everyone outside of Connecticut does not know how to differentiate the strength of a town’s high school.  Madison, CT might mean something around here but not necessarily to those who are reviewing applications for Haverford or Swarthmore or Pomona or any other none New England liberal arts powerhouse.

As for activities, having sat on admissions panels in different settings, I can assure you that it is very difficult to give significant admissions edges to those who are in the “above average to very good range” in activities. The first string flute player is neither clearly better nor worse in activities than the first string point guard. Almost all students have community service and are in a couple of other clubs. Other than the clear standout, particularly in something unusual, – someone recently mentioned a champion ballroom dancer – activities will put someone “in” once they have the requisite numbers but rarely elevate students who don’t have the numbers.