News: More Than Just a Shiny SAT Score

This was interesting --- and oddly, it's from today's Wall Street Journal (if you missed it while reading about the surging wheat prices in Cambodia, you're forgiven):

For years, colleges have asked applicants for their grade-point averages and standardized test scores.

Now, schools like Boston College, DePaul University and Tufts University also want to measure prospective students' personalities.

That's right: Not content to test your math puzzle abilities, or your ability to complete sentences correctly, your school of choice now wants to make sure you're a personality fit.

What's a potential psychopath with high grades to do? Well, at least you've got some support--you're not the only one to think that being graded on your personality is a little creepy. From the same article:

Critics contend that efforts to quantify noncognitive traits are often unreliable. And, they say, as the new systems of evaluation become widespread, prospective students will figure out how to game the answers to their advantage. Some legal advocates also say the assessments could stir affirmative-action controversy if they are used solely to give a boost to minorities' admissions chances.

How many Kaplan researchers do you think are already looking into a way to game the test? ---CJ

(BTW, for the cynics out there, the Journal is quick to point out that these sorts of tests are a high-growth area for ETS, the College Board and other testing companies.)