Information Laundering

Jesse Rothstein, an economics and public affairs professor at Princeton, says his studies have shown that what the SAT is reveals is whether an applicant went to an elite school or not. In effect, the test stands in as a proxy…a way to offer information that admissions counselors can use to judge students that would normally not be legitimate to ask about. To a large extent by putting emphasis on the SAT schools are giving preference to wealthy students who attend better schools. Should the SAT be used in admissions? An important question for colleges and universities to address is how important is it to identify those students most likely to succeed while resolving diversity issues? If we don’t want to give preferences to kids from wealthy, white schools, Rothstein says we need to think about how the SAT is used for admissions.