University officials hailed the class of 2009 as the most "academically prepared" in GW's history, but a new Scholastic Achievement Test, may make it harder for administrators to judge the merits of next year's incoming freshmen.
The new SAT complete with an essay-writing section, Algebra II math questions and more critical reading passages, was introduced to high schools around the country last March in an effort to "emphasize college success skills," according to a 2002 news release from the College Board, the national organization that publishes the SAT. But GW's admissions office will not consider scores from the new writing section in this year's batch of applications.
Kathryn Napper, GW's director of admissions, said the University does not yet know enough about the essay section to be able to use it as a factor in admissions for the class of 2010. Like the SAT II Writing Subject Test, the SAT writing scores will only benefit applicants.
"It could help if it was a decent score, but I don't see it being detrimental to the student," Napper said, adding that students' high school transcripts are more important than SAT scores. Sixty-five percent of this year's incoming freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class.
The high school graduating class of 2006 had the option of taking both the new and old SAT exams, and GW will accept both versions of the test from this year's high school applicants. Napper said the University will only consider students' highest verbal and math scores, but will still look at applicants' writing scores in an effort to determine whether to consider the new section in next year's admission standards.
"The biggest predictor of success in college is the courses they took in high school and how well they did," she said. "(The SAT) is an additional piece of information."
High school students and guidance counselors across the country are having trouble gauging college admission standards with the onset of the new SATs that are scored out of 2,400 possible points. Universities currently only publish the range of scores of this year's incoming freshmen, who were required to take the old SAT exam based on a 1,600 point scale.
The new SAT complete with an essay-writing section, Algebra II math questions and more critical reading passages, was introduced to high schools around the country last March in an effort to "emphasize college success skills," according to a 2002 news release from the College Board, the national organization that publishes the SAT. But GW's admissions office will not consider scores from the new writing section in this year's batch of applications.
Kathryn Napper, GW's director of admissions, said the University does not yet know enough about the essay section to be able to use it as a factor in admissions for the class of 2010. Like the SAT II Writing Subject Test, the SAT writing scores will only benefit applicants.
"It could help if it was a decent score, but I don't see it being detrimental to the student," Napper said, adding that students' high school transcripts are more important than SAT scores. Sixty-five percent of this year's incoming freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class.
The high school graduating class of 2006 had the option of taking both the new and old SAT exams, and GW will accept both versions of the test from this year's high school applicants. Napper said the University will only consider students' highest verbal and math scores, but will still look at applicants' writing scores in an effort to determine whether to consider the new section in next year's admission standards.
"The biggest predictor of success in college is the courses they took in high school and how well they did," she said. "(The SAT) is an additional piece of information."
High school students and guidance counselors across the country are having trouble gauging college admission standards with the onset of the new SATs that are scored out of 2,400 possible points. Universities currently only publish the range of scores of this year's incoming freshmen, who were required to take the old SAT exam based on a 1,600 point scale.
