Colleges Putting Grades Before Scores

In the January 2006 regular admission of the Seoul National University (SNU), it turned out that high school academic records had more than twice the influence on admissions than essay-based test scores did.

The influence of high school academic records was similar to that of last year’s scholastic aptitude test (SAT), whose difficulty level was considered relatively high.

The SNU admission management headquarters announced on September 19, “After analyzing each factor’s influence based on score distribution of applicants of the year 2006, we found out that high school academic records were more than twice crucial than essay-based test scores in determining whether a student is admitted or not.”

They also explained, “The SAT and high school academic records had similar levels of influence, though that of the SAT was slightly stronger. The influence of high school academic records was overwhelmingly greater than that of essay-based tests.”

This means the influences of the factors on the 2006 SNU admission were in the following descending order: SAT, high school academic record, essay-based test and interview.

The announcement draws keen attention as it is opposed to the dominant view—presented after the SNU announced its college admission plan for the year 2008 to be applied to those who are currently in their second year at high school—that essay-based tests will more strongly influence one’s admission than SAT grades and high school academic records.

Research Professor Kim Kyung-bum of the SNU admission management headquarters said, “This shows that though high school academic records had a real reflection rate of only 2.28 percent in the last college admission, their influence was stronger than any other factors.”

The SNU added, however, that detailed statistics cannot be revealed as the college admission for the year 2007 is currently underway.

The SNU plans to decide the real reflection rate of essay-based tests after having a mock essay-based test on some 200 high school students nationwide in March 2007. The mock test will follow the structures of 18 question examples that have been disclosed in two previous occasions, but it will be centered on texts included in textbooks.

The real reflection rate of essay-based tests is expected to go below 30 percent, a nominal reflection rate that the SNU had announced, as the university stated, “We are already giving line scores on essay-based tests, and we do not consider giving scores on a complete zero to full scale.”

The influence of each admission factor is determined through calculation of the percentage of successful applicants being changed from when scores are given on the basis of other admission factors except for a certain factor to when all the factors are included.

dnsp@donga.com