By Kate E. Salute
But Emma, 17, one of more than 4,000 students nationwide ‹ and one of two at West Hempstead High ‹ whose October SATs were scored erroneously, had already sent the bogus score to prospective colleges. Her corrected score was some 100 points higher than the one she included on her college applications ‹ 60 points higher on writing and 40 on math, taking to approximately 1,900 out of a maximum possible score of 2,400. (She did not reveal the exact numbers.)
The news of the scoring change came shortly after the College Board, which administers the SAT, announced that just under 1 percent of students who took the test in October had not been given credit for questions they had answered correctly. Emma was notified first by phone, a call her father answered, then again by e-mail on March 16.
When her father told her of the error, Emma recalled, she was initially happy. ³My scores went up ‹ it was exciting news,² she said. Then she realized that the colleges that had already received her scores were making final decisions on acceptances, honors programs and scholarships, and she began to wonder what, if any, effect that would have on her applications.
Emma knows what she wants to be, and has only applied to schools with the programs that suit her needs. She plans to major in nutrition and minor in science. ³I wasn¹t so much hurt with what colleges I applied to, because I knew where I wanted to apply based on my major,² she said. She was, however, affected when it came to scholarships that required certain SAT scores that she was led to believe, as were so many others, she didn¹t have.
Emma¹s mother, Patricia, said, ³She was not eligible for quite a lot of scholarships, when, in actuality, she would have been. Some of the scholarships she put the work into applying for in December and January didn¹t accept her because of this. I suppose she could reapply for the scholarships next year.²
After receiving notification, Emma contacted officials at the Best Buy Scholarship, for which she had applied, to notify them, but was told that it was too late: The scholarships had already been awarded, and no changes could be made. In addition, though she has been accepted at Penn State, she has received conflicting information on whether it is too late to apply for the honors program there. Not long after the College Board¹s notification of its errors, Penn State held an admitted students weekend, and one representative from the honors program said any changes would come too late, while a second said that Emma could still apply.
³They put so much emphasis on the importance of this test that I think she was upset after we got her the tutor and she took the test the second time, and [thought] she didn¹t do better,² her mother said. ³But when you¹re 17, you don¹t question the score ‹ you don¹t question the almighty SAT.²
Marguerite Lane, director of admissions at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, said that the college has seen fewer than 10 adjustments. While some students who had applied for scholarships were affected, no students were rejected who otherwise would have been admitted, and Molloy has contacted students whose adjusted scores were higher and awarded them scholarships.
³It¹s stressful enough for the student,² said Lane. ³We¹re just trying to make it easier for them. I¹m hopeful that the College Board will be aware of the problem now and pay so much attention to it that they¹ll make sure this doesn¹t ever happen again.²
At this point, Lane says, Molloy plans to continue using the SAT and ACT as part of its admissions criteria.
³To [compensate] for the detriment to the students and families affected by the error,² Emma says, the test fee and the cost of mailing out the scores to the nine schools she applied to is being refunded. ³Which doesn¹t really weigh out to a scholarship I didn¹t receive because of it,² she said.
³When we got the actual scores, it just confirmed what we already knew,² said her mother. ³She¹s a bright girl.²
Emma was accepted into the University of Delaware¹s honors college last weekend.
Comments? Ksalute@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 205.
