[nemothekid]

I can't imagine standardized testing being anything but a low pass filter for these schools. Roughly 2 million students take the SAT every year, which means 100,000 scores in the top 5%; 20,000 in the top 1%. Whittling down 20,000 high scores to 1500 isn't any easier.

[flavius29663]

But you don't have 20000 applicants from the top 1%, because not all will apply to every top school.

[nemothekid]

Princeton's SAT score percentile, last year, ranged from 96%-99%. That is still, potentially, 80,0000 applicants. Furthermore, it's not like the applicants are ranked and accepted in order of test scores.

My point is that having test scores doesn't make this process that much easier for a school like Princeton. They were already down weighting test scores after you scored in a certain range; you still needed to pile on extra curricular and recommendations (and maybe donate a building or two if your parents could afford it).

[flavius29663]

This sounds to me like such a non-problem that is blown out of proportions. Somewhat typical for American way of handling politics. Back at home for example (in Romania), there is an SAT equivalent (that is also much tougher). The universities can each choose to use just that in the admission, or they can choose to give another test on their own. These admission tests are usually setup around the country such that large universities don't have it on the same day. For the top universities the admission tests can be quite difficult, a top 1% would be at the bottom 25% if they don't prepare specifically for those tests. The tests are usually given for Math, so they're pretty fair and easy to score. And if you prepare for one university it's pretty much the same for all, with slight differences.

That math is hard, but at least you know what to expect. And if you prepare properly, you kind of know where you stand. I don't understand how US admission is acceptable: very wishy-washy, essays, extra-curricular activities, references...who decides what matters most? It's by design unfair and unpredictable.

[nemothekid]

You can’t compare American universities to Romania. A school like Princeton is attracting candidates internationally - if they just used a perfectly objective math exam they would likely have 50,000 applicants with perfect stores, but then what do you do about the students who don’t want to be math majors? These schools are operating on a completely different scale in terms of potential applicants and still only have 3000 seats.