Hobart and William Smith Make SAT Optional for Applicants

Hobart and William Smith Colleges announced yesterday that they were adopting a SAT-optional application policy, becoming the most recent of several prominent liberal arts colleges that have done so.

Applicants may submit standardized test scores as part of a Hobard or William Smith application if they choose to, but the Colleges will no longer require scores. Admissions committees will instead base decisions on high school transcripts and other records that demonstrate an applicant's abilities and growth over a period of months and years.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are separate but coordinating colleges in Geneva, New York. Each school (Hobart for men and William Smith for women) has its own dean and its own admissions office, but the schools jointly operate co-ed living and campus facilities and classes. Students and alumni express enthusiasm for the schools' small class sizes, interdisciplinary curriculum, beautiful lakeside campus, and family atmosphere.

Applications to Hobart and William Smith have increased by 35 per cent over the past eight years. In the past three years, Hobart and William Smith has graduated students who went on to receive Fulbright Scholarships, a Goldwater Award, a Rhodes Fellowship, and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

Source: "Colleges Adopt SAT Optional Policy" - press release, Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Geneva, NY), June 6, 2006