Understanding the SAT's New Adversity Score
June 7, 2019
Dear Friends,
Never a dull moment in the academic coaching world. Just when we thought anxiety after the admissions cheating scandal might be subsiding, the College Board announced its new “Adversity Index”, part of the Environmental Context Dashboard, and a material source of worry for families of all levels of means. I commented in the New York Times about some of the flaws of this rating and published an op-ed on foxnews.com (of all places) laying out my reasons. That my op-ed landed at such a charged venue speaks to the polarizing confusion around this index. We’d all like to believe the adversity index will help students who have overcome the toughest circumstances—a demographic that Lakhani Scholars is committed to helping. But the truth is that colleges do a better job recruiting students who’ve overcome hardship by looking at information specific to a student —education level of parents, content of essays—rather than simply school and zip code based data. We know recruitment of class diversity is a priority at schools: first generation students at Harvard, for example, make up 17% of the Class of 2022, up from 15.8% of the Class of 2020. The downside to the index is worrisome, however: there is a risk of gaming. Moreover, I worry that an adversity index caveats the achievements of hard working students at decent schools. It sends a signal to families who are fortunate to have means that no achievement is “good enough” (and a signal to folks who suffer adversity that no level of hardship is “bad enough”). More below on what this means for students deciding between SAT and ACT, and on how self-reporting scores plays into one’s application.
With summer upon us, we’re saying congrats to our last few admits, including successful transfer admissions to Brown and USC. Attention is now squarely on how to maximize summer for our rising seniors beginning to excavate powerful college essays. This reflective process needs time—ideally when school is not competing for a student’s attention. Other rising seniors will finalize SAT, ACT, and/or Subject Tests on July 13 (ACT) and August 24 (SAT). Rising juniors meanwhile have amazing character pursuits in the works this summer, alongside putting in all-important groundwork in SAT/ACT, planning that has allowed us to coach SAT score increases as large as 600 points. This is a vital summer, too, for business and law school candidates whose early round applications are due in less than three months. Boarding and independent school candidates are busy as well, tackling SSAT/ISEE growth this summer, soon followed by personal statements, interview prep, and applications in the fall. For all students who will be applying this year, it is essential to know your deadlines and testing goals from now. See below for more.
We are thrilled to soon announce the winner of our 2019 Lakhani Scholarship as well as the two incredibly deserving Finalists. Thanks to the tremendous students who submitted applications and to their counselors, parents and mentors for their contributions. This year’s scholarship, granted annually to a high achieving low-income sophomore, will award $10,000 of elite coaching services at zero cost to the winner’s family. Stay tuned for our winner announcement. And if you are interested in sponsoring a scholarship—we aspire to one day serve as many scholarship students as fee paying students—please contact us.
In other press, thank you to Bizia Greene for including me in the Santa Fe New Mexican’s two part feature on college visits and college interviews. What a joy to contribute to the Santa Fe community.
Finally, after great participation last month, we’ve included another standardized testing problem of the month, this one from the SAT Math2 Subject Test. Happy solving!
Hafeez Lakhani
SAT Adversity Index
In addition to what I shared in the New York Times and the op-ed on foxnews.com, here are key takeaways:
Group data, not individual stories: Disadvantage Levels are computed on a school and neighborhood basis, and do not include specific information to the student or family, such as actual income level. The School Disadvantage Level for every student from a given school will be the same; the Neighborhood Disadvantage Level for every student from a given census tract will be the same.
Self-reporting loophole: In the many cases where colleges now allow self-reported SAT scores, one can self-report upon application and wait to send an official score report, which includes Disadvantage Level, upon acceptance. In cases of self-reporting, a college will only see a student’s “adversity score” after acceptance—but bear in mind colleges can look up a given school or given zip code’s Disadvantage Level manually.
As I state in my op-ed, selective colleges look at more individualized indicators of adversity—parent education level, content of college essays—and so a regionalized indicator is somewhat moot.
A number of families have asked if the new “adversity index” means that students who are so fortunate to have a safe neighborhood should flock to the ACT. I would not rush that decision. Given that self-reporting is growing in practice, I continue to feel that each student should weigh SAT vs ACT based on which test he or she is best suited for (see my guidance in the Redbook article below). Of course, each case is different and families are welcome to contact us to discuss specific questions around this measure.
Resources:
New York Times: Commentary on SAT's New Adversity Score
Foxnews: Problems with Adversity Score
Redbook: How to Help Your Kid Rock the SAT and ACT
Rising Seniors: T-minus Five Months
A few important priorities for our rising seniors preparing for November 1 ED and EA college deadlines:
Excavating early drafts of college essays: Hemingway famously said, “Every writer should burn his first novel.” As a fiction writer , I understand this to mean that first drafts are gateways. They help us identify the seeds that will ultimately blossom into our more poignant later drafts. Our students know the analogy for one’s character story, and in turn, the content of one’s college essays: if we imagine that Harvard is a dinner table with a limited number of seats, and there is one place left, we must ask: what makes our student the most interesting contributor to that dinner table conversation? What makes him deserving of that last spot? Our college essay process is designed to help students excavate the most intriguing anecdotes from their experiences to answer this question. The key to the most successful essays we’ve coached is simple: time to process. Contact us to learn more about reserving an expert writing coach.
Recommendation requests: Some schools ask students to make these requests before they leave for summer, and others ask students to do it immediately upon returning in fall. Factors that are important in choosing a student’s two academic recommenders:
Who has the most specific anecdotes to share about the student? What might these anecdotes convey? Initiative? Leadership? Perseverance? Teamwork?
How that course ties in to the student’s intended area of study. Ex: Penn’s majors.
In cases where a student is embarking upon a significant character pursuit this summer, it may be wise to wait to request reccs until he/she has more to share about the experience. Contact us to discuss tools a student might share with both a school counselor and recommender to lend them fuel to write a powerful recommendation.
Wrap up Testing: For students who will apply Early Action or Early Decision, the following test dates remain:
SAT or Subject Tests: 8/24, 10/5
ACT: 7/13, 9/14, 10/26
Bear in mind that the October dates crowd college essay work and that international students are allowed access to only some of the above dates. For remaining SAT or ACT work, the key is to set aside concerted time this summer to work on skills growth. There is indeed time. But just as one cannot become a great tennis player overnight, one needs diligent practice to grow problem solving skills. All the better if this practice can be guided by an expert coach. Contact us to learn more.
Resources:
New York Times: How to Write a College Essay
Redbook: How to Help Your Kid Rock the SAT and ACT
Lakhani Scholars
We are pleased to share an update on our current Lakhani Scholar, Lisa David. She's maintained a 3.8 GPA and her SATs are progressing toward a 300 point improvement. Great job, Lisa!
Lisa also had the great fortune of earning her citizenship this year, after her family emigrated from Liberia just five years ago. We are thrilled to usher Lisa into the exciting phase of college applications this fall.
2019 Scholarship: We are happy to soon announce our 2019 Lakhani Scholars winner, a student with equal fire, and equally tough circumstances to overcome as Lisa. Keep a look out for that announcement!
We are committed to growing Lakhani Scholars to one day serve as many scholarship students as fee-paying students. If you are interested in sponsoring a Lakhani Scholarship, including the possibility of endowing a named scholarship, contact us to learn more.
Resources:
Rising Juniors and Underclassmen
Our students know the analogy: we cannot study all night tonight and be a great tennis player tomorrow. But with several weeks of focus—working with one of our coaches to identify evidence strategies in Reading Comp, grammar rules for English sections, and not only formulas for Math, but recurring practice at finding the “ah-ha” moment of the full range of challenging problems—can yield dramatic results, including for example ACT increases as large as 12 points.
Summer Intensive SAT/ACT: There is no better head start for a rising junior than investing in skills growth in problem solving ability—standardized testing—this summer. It alleviates a huge amount of pressure from the toughest year of high school, and in best case scenarios allows juniors to cross off SAT/ACT by December, opening up time to focus on coursework, Subject Tests, AP or IB responsibilities, and one’s blossoming character story. Our students who see the greatest gains are those who are able to devote 50 to 100 hours summer before junior year.
Resources:
Redbook: How to Help Your Kid Rock the SAT and ACT
New York Times: Considering College? Maybe You Should Invest in a Coach
Graduate School Candidates: T-minus 3 Months
Law School: Rolling applications open as early as August. If you are thinking about applying this fall, you should be moving toward completion on LSAT or GRE, to leave 1-2 months for work on personal statements. Contact us for guidance on reaching final testing goals, and to begin mapping out a unique story for personal statements.
Business School: First round deadlines are in early September, so a plan of action needs to be in place from now to reach GMAT or GRE goals, and to then formulate an appropriate school list and excavate intriguing personal statements for applications. If you plan to apply in Round 1, we recommend having testing—which often entails multiple sittings—complete by July 15.
Medical School: AMCAS applications for following year admissions are now open. Our med school coaches are on call to help students take personal statements from good to great, or to guide students completing the last leg of their MCAT journey.
Other Graduate Study: As with any admissions goal, it’s wise to get testing out of the way before finalizing a program list, making note of deadlines, and working on personal statements and other components such as recommendation requests. In many cases candidates will also dedicate time to elevating a writing sample or portfolio. Contact us to create a customized plan to reach your desired program.
Boarding School and Independent School
A number of families who will apply to change schools in the fall have already booked summer SSAT or ISEE coaching. Independent and boarding school applications can be due anywhere from November 1 to February 15. As with any process, we recommend separating responsibilities—taking care of testing first, followed by coaching for personal statements, applications, and interviews in the fall. Contact us to discuss test preparation, a school list, visits, and a detailed plan of action.
Resources:
New York Times: Considering College? Maybe You Should Invest in a Coach
Problem of the Month: SAT Subject Tests, Math Level 2
Genevieve is the designer of a combination lock. To open the lock, a user must turn a small wheel to capture a three number combination in the correct order (example: 38, 4, 15). The wheel is numbered 0 to 39, inclusive. If no two numbers are allowed to be repeated in a successful combination, how many potential combinations can Genevieve’s lock have?
A) 9,139
B) 9,880
C) 56,277
D) 59,280
E) 64,000
Click here to see the answer