The prospect of never having to take the SAT is no longer confined to high school students' wildest dreams.
Schools across the country are re-examining their admissions policies, and several have announced they will no longer require standardized-test scores from applicants.
But don't get too excited: Penn - along with the rest of the Ivy League - is remaining faithful to this long-standing aspect of the admissions process.
The SAT and its prime competitor, the American College Test, are a key part of Penn's application, and the University is in no rush to eliminate or make optional the use of either one. Currently, prospective Penn students are required to take either the SAT or the ACT, as well as two SAT II subject tests.
"It is highly unlikely that any school in the Ivy League will eliminate the SAT or make it optional in the near future," Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson said.
Stetson noted that standardized tests, along with high school transcripts, are "very helpful" in determining how a student will perform once he or she matriculates to college.
Stetson and his admissions team are confident in using the College Board's tests as measuring sticks for their rapidly growing applicant pool.
But other testing officials are less sure of the 105-year-old SAT, which has been modified numerous times since its creation.
"SAT scores can be affected by factors other than academic ability," said Robert Schaeffer, the public education director of FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing.
Admissions officials and the College Board said the SAT levels the playing field for applicants, since an A from one high school might not mean the same from a different one.
For Schaeffer, however, the SAT can do just the opposite.
"That playing field can be tilted by coaching," said Schaeffer, who added that test anxiety can also hurt a student's score.
And while Schaeffer called the Ivy League schools "resistant" to removing the SAT from their applications, schools just a few miles away are testing the waters of an SAT-free world.
Satisfied with its policy of making the submission of tests scores optional for its top applicants, Franklin and Marshall College, in Lancaster, Pa., has eliminated the SAT or ACT requirement for its entire applicant pool this year, according to Michelle Woltkamp, assistant dean of admissions for the school.
To put more emphasis on an applicant's high-school transcript and course load, students will have the option of not submitting any standardized test. Instead, they will have to submit two graded writing samples, preferably from a humanities course taken in their junior or senior years.
Other schools have decided to make the SAT and ACT optional because of the tests' more controversial components.
"Standardized tests do not measure the qualities we value most," said Knox College Dean of Admissions Paul Steenis, who said the tests effectively discriminate against students who cannot afford expensive tutors.
While FairTest's list of schools that do not require the SAT or ACT numbers over 700, the list includes places that never required either test in the first place.
For example, Oakland University is on FairTest's list. However, the school accepts 82 percent of applicants and will consider SAT or ACT scores if submitted, but does not require either test.
Despite the debate surrounding the tests, College Board officials remain unfazed.
"In eliminating standardized tests, schools are losing a valuable measurement for evaluating students for admissions," said Caren Scoropanos, a spokeswoman for the College Board.
