The George Washington University has become the latest fancypants college in America to stop requiring standardized test scores from most applicants applying for undergraduate admission.
The requirement to submit SAT or ACT scores will end Aug. 1, according to a statement from George Washington administrators.
Like at the many other schools across the country where standardized tests are already optional, GW applicants for the 2016-17 academic year will be able to choose to include or not include ACT and SAT scores.
Forthwith, admissions counselors will take a more holistic approach to the admission (or rejection) process for each applicant. Considerations will include high school grades and courses taken as well as writing ability, recommendations and such standards as character and “personal qualities.”
George Washington’s Task Force on Access and Success recommended the change to test-optional admissions, administrators say.
“The test-optional policy should strengthen and diversify an already outstanding applicant pool and will broaden access for those high-achieving students who have historically been underrepresented at selective colleges and universities, including students of color, first-generation students and students from low-income households,” Laurie Koehler, senior associate provost for enrollment management, said. “We hope the test-optional policy sends a message to prospective students that if you are smart, hard-working and have challenged yourself in a demanding high school curriculum, there could be a place for you here.”
All of this sounds very high and mighty. At the same time, according to a 2013 piece in The GW Hatchet, school officials lied for years about wait-listing students because they are too poor to afford the exorbitant cost of attending the Washington, D.C. private school.
The cost of a single year of attendance at George Washington is $66,660 — about $13,000 more than America’s median annual household income of $53,891.
In October 2012, GW administrators finally came clean about the fact that they routinely admitted wealthier students in place of other qualified applicants who would have difficulty paying tuition out of daddy’s pocket. Nevertheless, George Washington proudly, fraudulently touted itself as need-blind. (RELATED: George Washington U. Caught In Major Lie About Admissions)
In November 2012, officials admitted that the perennial safety school had been goosing U.S. News data for years concerning the class rank of new students. For the 2012 class of incoming freshmen, for example, the school reported that 78 percent of new students were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. The actual proportion of such students was 58 percent.
In response to this transgression, the ostensible rankings gurus at U.S. News relegated George Washington to the purgatory of unranked schools, where it was to remain for at least a whole year. (RELATED: Cut Down! U.S. News ‘De-Ranks’ George Washington U. After Cheating Flap)
Last year, The Daily Caller named George Washington America’s dirtiest, rottenest, cheatingest college. (RELATED: SCUMBAG COLLEGES: TheDC’s Definitive List)
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