A new report released last week by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling stated that college admissions offices should de-emphasize applicants' SAT and ACT scores when deciding whom to admit.
Penn, however, has no plans to drop the tests from its admissions criteria.
The NACAC report concluded that the SAT and ACT exams are poor criteria for college admissions because they are not good predictors of students' success in college.
"Standardized admission tests - as well as other individual factors - are insufficient predictors of a student's likelihood of overall success," the commission stated.
The report added that focusing on students' scores on subject-based standardized tests - such as the SAT subject tests and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate examinations -- would be more useful.
Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said Penn does not intend to move away from evaluating the SATs or ACTs.
The University will not eliminate the testing requirement "as long as we put the test in the proper context and use it with other information," he said.
Furda added that he thinks the two exams are good indicators of student success in college when used in conjunction with other factors and when test scores are matched up against other pieces of information, such as high-school grades, grade point average and class rank.
The admissions office requires all applicants to submit either the SAT and two subject tests or the ACT.
Furda also said students' AP and IB tests are more likely to be used for course placement rather than admissions purposes because the University generally does not receive these scores until after students are accepted.
College consultants think the SATs and ACTs, while overemphasized, should remain as an admissions criteria.
"I do feel that the tests provide some valuable information when used in a holistic context," Sally Rubenstone, the senior adviser of College Confidential, wrote in an e-mail.
Bari Norman, an admissions consultant based in New York City, said she thinks schools should de-emphasize the tests, but there is a place for them in admissions.
Counselors also said they think it is unlikely that elite schools will change their testing policies.
"If the Ivy League had the political will to eliminate the SATs, they would," said Washington, D.C.-based consultant Steven Goodman. "Universities are like people, they do what's in their best interests."
