College Foundation Of Nc

Bowdoin Says No Need for SAT But Buys Scores

Courtney Abernathy, who will enter Wake Forest University in the fall of 2011, stands for a photo in London, on June 19, 2011. Abernathy earned a 3.9 grade-point average at her Plymouth, New Hampshire, high school. She decided against submitting her test scores to the college because her results were average, she said. Photographer: Kathleen Uhlman/Family Photo via Bloomberg

Colleges from Bowdoin in Maine to Pitzer in California dropped the SAT entrance exam as a requirement, saying it favors the affluent, penalizes minorities and doesn’t predict academic success. What they don’t advertise is they find future students by buying names of kids who do well on the test.

Pitzer buys as many as 100,000 names a year based on test scores from the College Board, owner of the SAT, to search for applicants, even after the school became “ test-optional ” in the 2003-2004 year. Wake Forest University, which stopped requiring the SAT or rival ACT test for students entering in 2009, also buys names, as does Bowdoin, which made scores optional in 1969.

Students are being duped by some schools into thinking that test scores don’t matter, when they matter a great deal for marketing outreach and prestige, said Leon Botstein, president of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York , which neither requires the tests nor buys names. Test-optional colleges that buy names of high-scoring students are hypocritical, he said.

“They take a stance that looks principled but is strategic,” Botstein said in an interview. “They say ‘I’m going to show myself to be open,’ but in reality they’re completely buying into the definition of a good student that is guided by the test.”

The College Board sells names to more than 1,000 colleges, using biographical information students provide when they register for the preliminary SAT and SAT exams. Students can opt out of having their names in the company’s search service. The company and its competitor, Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT Inc., both nonprofit, sell names for 33 cents apiece.

Bowdoin, in Brunswick, Maine, was the first school to become test optional, according to FairTest, a nonprofit advocacy group in Boston . Bowdoin adopted the policy to let applicants decide whether test results “accurately reflected their academic ability and potential,” according to the school’s website. Since then, dozens of schools have followed suit, a trend that accelerated in the past 10 years as more colleges questioned possible biases in the tests.

North Carolina Junior Golf Foundation tournaments and college ...

The North Carolina Junior Golf Foundation has released a 2011-2012 junior tournament schedule that includes nationally ranked 36 hole events at major college campus golf courses and other top courses in the region. Junior golfer have the opportunity to play in nationally ranked tournaments at The University of North Carolina, Campbell, NC State and Duke Universities. Entry fees range from $65 to $125 for two days of competitive play on weekends from September-May. The volunteer, charitable Foundation was formed to serve junior golfers and promote the game of golf and part of that mission includes offering affordable tournament golf to junior golfers regardless if they live in North Carolina or not.

The first event on the schedule is September 4-5, 2011 at NC State University's Lonnie Poole Golf Course, followed by a trip to Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina in October, to the Nicklaus Designed Club at 12 Oaks in November and then an early December finish at Duke University. Other campus courses on schedule include Campbell University's Keith Hills Country Club layout. The mild North Carolina weather combined with excellent universities combine to offer great golfing experiences for all. Throw in the non-profit North Carolina Junior Golf Foundation tournaments and parents and players can experience tournament golf like a college athlete, schedule campus visits and nationally ranked golf tournaments at the same time with low costs for golf and lodging.

Contact: North Carolina Junior Golf Foundation, Inc., info@ncjuniorgolf.