Jocelyn Cuadrado, a 2013 graduate who attended La Salle University via the Academic Discovery Program, said that “it seems like I graduated with family.”
In his capacity as director of the Academic Discovery Program at La Salle University, Bob Miedel deliberately seeks out students with SAT scores that are “slightly disappointing.”
By “disappointing” he means a combined math and critical reading score of 950 or below — less than the national average of 1010 for those two subjects combined.
Miedel says the rationale behind seeking out students with subpar SAT scores — and offering them generous financial aid — is to extend the benefit of higher education to economically disadvantaged students who otherwise do well in school but may not have done well on a test.
“Standardized tests are just that — standard,” Miedel told Diverse. “Colleges need to look beyond the standard, realizing that one test during one morning in a student’s life cannot measure desire, drive and hard work.”
Miedel’s remarks come at a time when a growing number of colleges and universities — more than 800 by one count — are making college entrance exams optional, and there is an ongoing discussion about the extent to which college entrance exams truly show a student’s potential to succeed in higher education.
For instance, earlier this year, a study ― titled “Defining Promise: Optional Standardized Testing Policies in American College and University Admissions” ― found only “trivial differences” in the GPAs and graduation rates of students who submitted college entrance exam scores versus those of non-submitters, who are more likely to be first-generation college students, minorities, women, Pell Grant recipients and students with learning differences.
