from the Woohoo!-I'm-a-college-man!-I-am-so-smart!-I-am-so-smart!-S.M.R.T.!-I-mean-S.M.A.R.T.! dept.
University of Chicago eliminates SAT/ACT requirement
The University of Chicago will no longer require ACT or SAT scores from U.S. students, sending a jolt through elite institutions of higher education as it becomes the first top-10 research university to join the test-optional movement.
Numerous schools, including well-known liberal arts colleges, have dropped or pared back testing mandates in recent years to bolster recruiting in a crowded market. But the announcement Thursday by the university was a watershed, cracking what had been a solid and enduring wall of support for the primary admission tests among the two dozen most prestigious research universities.
[...] U-Chicago is also expanding financial aid and scrapping in-person admission interviews, which had been optional. Instead, it will allow applicants to send in two-minute video pitches, in an effort to connect with a generation skilled at communicating via cellphone clips.
Also at USA Today and Inside Higher Ed.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday June 15 2018, @01:23PM (4 children)
So sending in test-scores is optional and can be replaced by a 2 minute long video pitch? I guess that is one way of trying to cater to the younger generation. I do wonder how they will compare, good optional test result vs a 2 minute pitch video when it comes to academic success. A 2 minute pitch video sounds more like something you would send in if you apply for some Art program and not say mathematics.
Self-submission of transcripts? So you don't even have to submit transcripts? How are they going to select students? Wallet-size?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @01:49PM (2 children)
Art program? Are you kidding me? They're going to get flooded with up-and-coming Marketing weenies.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday June 15 2018, @01:54PM (1 child)
The upside of the pitch videos is that they can be used in office parties as drinking games.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday June 15 2018, @04:36PM
I'm looking forward to my next interview being a two-minute video, with nobody checking my resume or trying to guess if I have the background skills required.
Now, let me see, which one pays more, CEO of Samsung, or of L'Oreal ?
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday June 15 2018, @07:01PM
I'm assuming what they're looking for is something like this [youtube.com]. Hollywood predicted this nearly two decades ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @02:03PM (4 children)
You could, of course, get lost in the arguments about measuring intelligence and testing, etc., but the whole SAT/ACT/etc. nonsense is basically a money-grabbing scam [youtube.com] run by only a couple of companies.
Don't believe me? I've got three words for you: SAT Subject Tests [collegeboard.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @05:15PM (1 child)
You pay for a test. You get a test. It's not a scam.
Of course, there is a duopoly of private companies. These companies have a creepy amount of influence over who goes to college and who doesn't, and where it is that people go to college.
In the end though, it may be better than the alternatives we could have. We used to have per-college tests, to be taken on site. That has high overhead. We could have a government-provided test, but that would likely be outsourced as a sole-source contract. We have enough trouble already with politics impacting the tests; making the tests government-supplied would make them severely political. As it is, some of the answers can be determined by eliminating the choices that aren't leftist. (one choice says something non-positive about blacks, one choice is patriotic, one choice presumes everybody likes bacon... OK, it isn't any of those!) We could go based on GPA, but school districts have an incentive to please the voters with grade inflation and some school districts are just inferior.
So the test is troubling, but what realistic alternative would be better?
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Sunday June 17 2018, @01:45PM
In the USA, that would seem likely.
Maybe check how countries in the EU solve this aspect? I've heard complaints about individual tests, but nothing about the whole institution of high school exams being corrupted in any EU country.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @06:48PM
Kid from my HS did very poorly on the SAT. Parents bought his way into an ivy league school. Lasted less than a semester before returning home to a community college.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @11:10PM
The tests also mostly require rote memorization to solve, making them useless for determining to what degree someone understands the subject matter. They are only good for eliminating people who did not even bother to memorize the information; plenty of losers still pass them easily.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Shire on Friday June 15 2018, @02:09PM (7 children)
Maybe I'm just getting old, but college used to be about furthering your academic abilities. It seems that college is now more about getting a four year course in social justice indoctrination, safe spaces, and me first entitlement training. Companies will not hire these people.
I weep for the future...
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @02:24PM
No, neo-Marxism says everyone is completely equal and IQ is not real. Some people are more equal than others though, eh comrade? Diversity is our strength, unless you're a white male?
In the future utopia, every citizen will weap tears of joy! [spectator.co.uk]
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @02:40PM (5 children)
No, it is you just getting old. The whole social justice indoctrination crap is just that, crap. Fox News red meat to push the idea that it really is the poor conservatives who are the oppressed minority.
However, for the vast majority of people who go, it really is less and less about furthering their academic abilities. It is a checklist one is compelled to feel they have to do to get a "good job". There has been more noise lately about the "German method" of education, namely that we should go back to when we used to have a stronger vocational track because a good deal of jobs and professions would be better served by people spending those four years in a relevant vocational education instead of a general college education.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @03:51PM (3 children)
Just a figment of our imagination? [sott.net] Why does the modern sociopath assume everyone is feeble minded enough to be gaslighted?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 15 2018, @09:08PM (2 children)
Fewer people applying to Evergreen proves your point how?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @10:00PM (1 child)
Fox News has indoctrinated the non-college educated to think that college is all about brainwashing and social indoctrination. And it has worked, because Fox News viewers do not have a brain to wash, got negative scores on the SAT, and have been proven to become more stupid that they were before they started watching Fox News.
But at least now our long-suffering intellectual conservatives will have a chance for their equally valid racist, misogynist, climate-denying, and Buick-buying ideas to be heard, and recognized for the insanity they are. Trump University!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @04:44AM
Sounds like whataboutism to me.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @12:14AM
Yes. Employers can't be bothered to evaluate someone if they don't have a piece of paper; they might have to spend a few bucks to do so, and we can't have that. So, jobs that did not require a degree mere decades ago now require one. They also can't be bothered to offer training to employees, and so have to unload that burden on the rest of society. The result is that colleges become increasingly corporatized and churn out countless losers who have no idea what they're doing, just so they can make a buck. But those imbeciles still get past most HR drones because, hey, if they have a piece of paper, then clearly they know what they're doing.
This is the real problem with colleges, not 'SJW indoctrination' crap.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @03:23PM (1 child)
We are doing the next generation of tide pod eating idiots a disservice.
(Score: 4, Funny) by takyon on Friday June 15 2018, @03:32PM
Yeah, we need more Tide Pod flavors.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by choose another one on Friday June 15 2018, @03:26PM (7 children)
[begin rant]
Starting with the fact that TFA is inaccessible in the EU because they can't manage your personal data properly, except if you can use google in which case it's immediately available along with offers to subscribe, wonder at what point in the subscription process they say uh-oh we shouldn't actually have taken your personal data...
Then there is the failure of the massive expansion in higher education (in both US and Western Europe in the last few decades) with the thinking (at least here, particularly under Tony Blair) that if graduates got better jobs then if everyone got a degree everyone would get better jobs. Idiots - if most people have a degree all it leads to is that you "need" a degree for all but the most menial jobs, and if a degree is no longer a differentiator then it go back to being who you know or who your parents are/know.
On the back of that expansion, higher education has redefined itself as an industry in its own right, a part of the economy rather than an enabler for the economy or the pure pursuit of learning. Now as prospective students start to realize the value of a degree is far less than advertised and might not be worth it, the universities struggle to attract enough dupes (er sorry, customers) to pay the bills. And the solution to the devaluing of the degree is [drum roll] - devalue the next qualification down. Yup, when "work hard, get good grades at school, go to university, get a good degree, get a good job" turns out to be fiction the solution is to make it more fictional by removing the need to get good grades at school at all.
But there's more, because this is all in the name of "diversity" now, and here's how diverse the university is:
So either (a) they are really bad at basic maths or (b) there are 6 or more other racial groups at 3% or less (justifiably aggrieved at their omission), so fewer than half the racial groupings are listed thus giving a false impression of lack of diversity. But wait, maybe they don't really mean "diverse", maybe they mean "representative"? Well last time I looked at the stats the US was majority white, which means they need to get more whites in if they want to be representative.
Universities seem to have acquired a paranoia about being "elitist" - and to have forgotten that they are _supposed_ to be elitist, especially given the claim to be one of the "most prestigious research universities", as in the "top" universities or "best" universities.. or other synonyms for "elite". I fervently wish that those who campaign against universities being "elitist" would actually go and campaign for disability quotas in special forces, or something equally ridiculous until they get the point, or campaign for blind pilots and deaf air traffic controllers and then go take a flight a long way away from me.
[end rant]
But maybe I am just too old to appreciate the value in bringing things up to date, I mean it is obviously unfair that some people get extra tuition for exams so lets select based on a two-minute selfie/video (whatever that is called), because it's not like you can get paid courses in doing that... [just f***ing google it]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday June 15 2018, @08:50PM
Dropout rates tend to vary a bit by race, I would expect the grad rates to be more traditionally "elitist".
Its been a part of the business model at all schools for generations, admit a huge number of people of the "correct" groups who won't make it thru the first semester, to shut the diversity people up. Then at graduation ceremony its all whites, jews, and asians.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @11:39PM (3 children)
Does this work for you?
http://archive.li/Yvl85#selection-69.13-97.0 [archive.li]
If so, bookmark the domain for use as a zero-cost proxy.
*.is|*.fo|*.eu also work.
higher education has redefined itself as an industry in its own right
Yup. Just another Capitalist operation maximizing its profits.
College for anyone who isn't affluent is about making those folks docile and subservient for life to the Oligarchy via student debt.
It's #1 on this guy's list.
Universities [...] are _supposed_ to be elitist
Above in the (meta)thread, AC #693507 mentioned [soylentnews.org]
the "German method" of education [with] a stronger vocational track
Too much like right.
It seems like in USA (and elsewhere, I'm betting) the folks with the best chance of steady employment are likely to be plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and the like, where the work can't be offshored.
the US [is] majority white
By what reckoning? Self-perception?
N.B. If you ask USAians if they're "middle class"[1] almost all will say Yes no matter how rich or poor they are..
[1] A stupid, useless term that should be avoided.
...and Soylentil TMB would appear to be White by reading his (classist) comments, apparently can pass for White to the casual visual observer, but claims that he is Native American.
...and with the conquest of a significant part of Europe by the Moors from North Africa and subsequent dispersion of populations and interbreeding, it's unlikely that a DNA test of most Europeans or their descendants will show that they are as White as they think they are.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @12:04PM (2 children)
I modded you up, but I have one annoying, offtopic remark to make regarding your post; white is a color, not a race or ethnicity. My skin is white, but I'm not a member of any "white race". I have no connection to any "white culture". I am not ethnically "white". Stop using white to describe people, it's disingenuous and fosters a false "us and them" narrative by lumping people together based on a completely superficial attribute. Black Americans, who, by contrast, ARE much more likely to have a common cultural heritage and experience, tend to make this mistake rather often, but it's disappointing that so-called "white people" buy into the divisive narrative as well. Embrace your diversity - don't marginalize yourself based on your skin color!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @12:18PM (1 child)
it's disingenuous and fosters a false "us and them" narrative
I eagerly await your uploading the video of you whitesplaining this to a group of people whose skin tone is dramatically different from yours.
Audio would probably be just as good.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @03:06PM
You did a nice job missing the point there. The whole thing is don't worry about other groups, quit making YOURSELF a part of the "white" group, which serves as a boogeyman for those groups. There's no need for others to stop grouping you, stop grouping yourself and buying into the narrative the media is trying to push on you. There is no such group as "white". Stop trying to be a member of that group. THAT is how you destroy the stupidity pushed by mainstream media, because every SJW that is angry about alt-retards but still allows themselves to be co-opted as a "white" by those idiots is just fuel for the fire.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday June 15 2018, @11:41PM (1 child)
Aren't you glad I added 3 articles to choose from instead of one? All saying about the same thing.
You can also use archive.is to bust through most scriptwall issues.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Saturday June 16 2018, @03:37PM
> Aren't you glad I added 3 articles to choose from instead of one? All saying about the same thing.
Actually the complaint wasn't about SN, nor was it about blocking EU, it was about blocking EU so incompetently that it is trivial to workaround and then displaying a popup advert for subscription to someone in the EU when you have previously said you can't process personal data from the EU.
I don't really care about "you can't read our stuff because you're in EU", plenty of other sources out there, but "you can't read our stuff because you're in EU, click here to subscribe to read more of it" is just a fail.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday June 15 2018, @03:59PM (9 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @05:20PM
Chicago economics is famous. Other than that, meh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @06:03PM (2 children)
Probably because you are clueless a grade school dropout. UChicago is very prominent in the fields of physics, economics, and the law.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday June 16 2018, @06:57AM
Also medicine, sociology, archaeology (esp. Near east), and chemistry.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday June 16 2018, @10:49AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday June 15 2018, @07:13PM (1 child)
Chicago is very grad-student heavy, hence it tends to end up on top research university lists. From several alumni I know, I've always had the impression that undergrads are a bit of an afterthought... and generally speaking have it a bit harder than other top schools. (My impression -- again, from talking with alumni -- is that it's harder to "coast" there with easy courses. A bit less grade inflation, etc.) It's the kind of place that's a great school to go to if you want to become an academic, but I wouldn't tend to encourage most kids -- even bright ones -- to go there as an undergrad.
But grad programs? They have quite a few well-known ones. As to how high Chicago is ranked among research universities, that depends on your ranking system. It may not be in the "top 10" in some lists, but definitely in the top couple dozen.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Friday June 15 2018, @08:23PM
I'd apply to go back for a physics grad degree, but my video camera broke and I can't afford a cell phone.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Friday June 15 2018, @08:20PM
Physics. Fermi. Nuclear reaction under stadium. Not far from Batavia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia,_Illinois [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Friday June 15 2018, @08:45PM (1 child)
They market hard as fuck. They've been sending my son postal mail spam since he was in 3rd grade. No exaggeration, why would I? Come visit us on visitors day we're the freak'n greatest thing ever, etc. No I don't live down the road but its closer than MIT or Stanford, and no I'm not an alumni.
I think its sort of like the companies that spend millions to broadcast ads on cable financial channels, they're putting more work into boosting their street cred than they are into improving their academic papers or making faster mainframes or better oil well drillheads or whatever the orgs real job is.
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Saturday June 16 2018, @10:54AM
Whatever, your response is the most informative of the batch, have a +1.
God, do genderfree people become alumna en masse, an alumnum individually, when they graduate? Of course not - they don't graduate!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves