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Albright Drops SAT Requirement for Admission Albright will no longer require standardized testing (SAT or ACT) for students applying for admission beginning in 2009. Submission of test scores will be optional for applicants. “Our extensive research confirms that there is very little correlation between test results and first-year grade-point averages or graduation rates, and that high school preparation is a much stronger predictor for student success,” said Gregory E. Eichhorn, vice president for enrollment management and dean of admission. According to Eichhorn, Albright has had many students who have achieved far beyond what test scores would have predicted. “We do not want to miss out on great students. In addition, test scores do not measure creativity, motivation, intellectual engagement or potential – all things that a liberal arts college values.” Albright also has a far greater diversity in its applicant pool and on campus – both ethnically and socio-economically – than most private liberal arts colleges, with students of color making up 20 percent of the incoming class. “Standardized tests demonstrate a bias that tends to disadvantage a large portion of our applicant pool and this policy change supports our commitment to a diverse community of learners,” said Eichhorn. In reviewing applicants, Albright’s admission process has historically placed very little emphasis on standardized test results, relying more heavily on high school preparation and assessment of each individual’s educational potential.
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Since 1994, the “six degrees” theory that everyone on the planet is connected by six people or less, has taken on a slightly different meaning at Albright, and for film buffs everywhere. Why? Because in 1994, three Albright students, Brian Turtle ’95, Craig Fass ’96 and Mike Ginelli ’96, created the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” The challenge— to connect every film actor to Bacon in six degrees or less. Now, researchers at Microsoft say the theory is right…not necessarily about Bacon, but about the world in general. According to the Washington Post, 30 billion electronic conversations among 180 million people around the globe were studied. The database covered all the Microsoft Messenger instant-messaging network in June 2006, equal to approximately half the world’s instant-messaging traffic at the time. In looking at the minimum chain lengths it takes to connect the 180 million different pairs of users in the database, the researchers found that the average length was 6.6 “degrees.” As for Bacon, he’s parlayed Turtle, Fass and Ginelli’s creation into a web site—sixdegrees.org—which brings together people interested in supporting good causes |
