Filling out an application for the University of California can
be a lengthy process for high school seniors.
UC applications require the disclosure of several pieces of
information ““Â including SAT scores, grade point average
and a summary of extra-curricular activities ““ all intended
to provide readers with a well-rounded picture of each college
hopeful.
But at times, it may be hard to determine what portion of the
application serves as the most accurate predictor of academic
performance during the first year of college and a student’s
achievement during his or her subsequent years at a university.
UCLA officially considers high school GPA as the most important
determinant of a student’s academic performance once they
reach college.
“The GPA is the best predictor of first-year college
performance ““Â that is the policy that UCLA
follows,” said Max Benavidez, a university spokesman.
Keith Stolzenbach, faculty chairman of the Academic
Senate’s admissions committee, said GPA provides application
readers with a good estimate of the extent to which a student is
working hard.
“If we get someone with high SAT scores and a low GPA,
there could be different reasons as to why this is the case,”
he said. “But it can potentially indicate a student who is
not motivated to live up to his potential.”
In contrast, SAT I and SAT II scores tell less about the
potential of a student and more about the student’s
educational background, Stolzenbach said.
These tests are designed to show the student’s mastery of
certain subject areas, he said but do not indicate whether students
performed well because they studied or because they are talented in
certain areas.
According to Patricia McDonough, an associate professor for the
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, SAT tests
give universities a better understanding of prior schooling for
applicants.
“Bad schools will have lower average scores,” she
said. “If you are looking at transcripts from a thousand
different high schools, it helps to have some measure to compare
students person to person.”
McDonough also cited the academic GPA of the student as a better
predictor than SAT scores, because many students do not test
well.
Testing anxiety or even disabilities ““ such as reading or
learning difficulties ““ can significantly disadvantage
students who may not even be aware of their condition.
“Some students learn the idiom of testing early on, but
there are groups of students who never get the underlying structure
of tests and do not do well,” she said.
But McDonough said the only real indicators of how a student
will perform in college are non-quantifiable traits ““ such as
determination.
Other elements of the UC application, such as Advanced Placement
test scores, also play a part in the way UCLA ranks applicants,
Stolzenbach said, but these may not provide much predictive ability
of performance in higher education.