Ivy League University Ditches Standardized Testing, Will Judge an Applicant's 'Background' and 'Voice'

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If you’ve lost sleep over whether you’ll get into Columbia University due to your test scores, rest easy — those no longer matter.

Online Wednesday, the school made a major announcement: It’s permanently dropping standardized testing requirements for undergraduates. Congradu-lations.

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People are complex; a single factor can’t define them:

The holistic and contextual application review process for Columbia College and The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science is rooted in the belief that students are dynamic, multi-faceted individuals who cannot be defined by any single factor.

Nuance is necessary. Maybe someone bombed their SAT, but they have a university-worthy identity:

Our review is purposeful and nuanced — respecting varied backgrounds, voices and experiences — in order to best determine an applicant’s suitability for admission and ability to thrive in our curriculum and our community, and to advance access to our educational opportunities.

Be your bold and beautiful self:

We have designed our application to afford the greatest possible opportunity and flexibility for students to represent themselves fully and showcase their academic talents, interests and goals. Standardized testing is not a required component of our application.

Don’t worry about being disadvantaged:

Students who choose not to submit test scores will not be at a disadvantage in our process. We will continue to evaluate all submitted information within an individualized application review process that considers the unique combination of circumstances shaping each applicant’s journey.

Might that place power in the hands of administrators who’ll unhook the velvet rope according to their own biases? It wouldn’t appear impossible — “intellectual curiosity” is highly subjective…

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The rigor of a student’s curriculum, their academic achievement and their demonstrated intellectual curiosity will remain central to our review.

Critics may claim objective standards are crucial to an excellence-ensuring admissions policy. But such an implementation would create a meritocracy, and that doesn’t seem to match society’s vibe:

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Professor Razes the Evil of Writing Rules, Whacks White Supremacy by Gonging Grades

To Root Out Racism, Elite High School for Science and Technology Ends Merit-Based Admissions

In Order to Attack ‘Systemic Racism,’ a School Eliminates Failure and Time Constraints

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Columbia looks to be leading the pack in multiple ways. Not only is it the first Ivy League institution to permanently ditch standardized test mandates, it’s also doing a class-leading job in the area of social indoctrination. At least, that’s the case according to North Korean defector, author and Columbia graduate Yeonmi Park. As noted by RedState’s Bob Hoge, she recently put it thusly to Fox & Friends First:

“The things that I was learning at Columbia University really shocked me because it was the exact same thing that my North Korean teachers were brainwashing me in the classroom. At Columbia University, they were literally saying that all the problems that we have is because of capitalism, because of white men, and the solution for all these problems is a communist revolution in the name of equity. They were saying that we need to destroy this country, and we need to rebuild the country in the name of equality of outcomes, and that same ideology drove my home country into what it is that state, North Korea.”

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Columbia is ushering in a new day — in education and the country. Will the new approach score one for America? The question appears inapplicable; ostensibly, we’re no longer keeping score.

-ALEX

 

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