Philadelphia’s Temple University announced on Tuesday it will no longer require prospective students to submit a standardized test score when they apply, joining a small but growing group of schools that believe there are other ways to gauge talent.
Temple said it is the first public research university in the United States’ Northeast to broaden its admissions policy in this way. Most U.S. schools still rely on students’ SAT or ACT test scores when choosing whom to admit.
Neil Theobald, the school’s president, suggested the move, which will apply to those who apply for fall 2015, will lead to a more diverse student body.
“By giving students more choices, we open doors to more first-generation students and those from underserved communities whose enormous academic promise may be overlooked by conventional measures of achievement,” he said in a statement.
More than 800 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. do not require applicants to submit either SAT or ACT scores, according to FairTest, a group that advocates for alternatives to standardized testing in university admissions.
Read the full article at Reuters: Temple University scraps SAT requirement for new students
