UW President Aims to Change Traditional Admissions Standards

For as long as anybody can remember SATs and ACTs score is what got students into college. If you weren't in a certain percentile then the prospect of attending college was severely diminished. That has been the harsh reality for admission to higher learning institutions. But what about the population of students, who just aren't good at taking test. Do they just fall by the wayside? Generally, yes. So the question must be begged, is standardize testing the right way to evaluate applicants? Sure, traditional evaluators would say absolutely, how else could one uniformly and objectively gauge aptitude for college success? But is intelligence uniform in all people?

University of Wyoming President, Bob Sternberg would say vehemently,no. Long before Sternberg was president of the University of Wyoming, he was an elementary school student, who failed every I.Q. test. Teachers in turn treated him as person with a low I.Q. It wasn't until the fourth grade that everything changed for the future president of UW."When I had a different kind of teacher in the fourth grade,someone who really believed in me, more than IQ score, I went from a mediocre student to being a very strong student", President Sternberg on his early education. Sternberg went on to: get his B.A. from Yale University, Ph.D. from Stanford University, have numerous publications on intelligence, and of course become the president of the University of Wyoming.Not bad for man who couldn't pass a standardized test.

Now that Sternberg is a president of a university,he doesn't want UW to be beholden to traditional admissions policies. According to Sternberg, universities are missing a diverse plethora of students that aren't proficient at test taking, who can excel on the college level.So, how does the University of Wyoming find these overlooked students.For Sternberg, it's easy, just change the way we evaluate prospective students, because not everybody is good or great at math and science.

In an ever evolving world, maybe it is time to evolve the way we measure intelligence and aptitude. Because the world is full of Bob Sternbergs who don't excel at standardize testing that could potentially become very successful people; all they need is the chance to prove themselves

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