Requiring the SAT Test Boosts Student Success

After we started requiring entrance exams at Chapman University, graduation rates more than doubled

Letter to The WSJ. 

"I well understand the frustration of the University of California’s math and science professors who are urging that college-entrance exams be reinstated as an admission requirement (“California Professors Want Entrance Exams Back,” U.S. News, June 2).

When I became president of Chapman University in 1991, we didn’t require college-entrance exams. Many considered that a badge of honor. If, however, academic success is measured by a school’s ability to nurture its students through graduation, we were failing. Only 38% of the students who started as freshmen at Chapman graduated four to six years later. That compared to a 62% graduation rate for the top 10-ranked colleges in our U.S. News & World Report category.

The reason for our low graduation rate wasn’t hard to find. We found across a large sample of competing schools that the correlation between entrance-exam scores and graduation rates was more than double that for any other admission requirement, including high-school GPAs and class standing.

Those findings led us to require SAT/ACT entrance exams. We steadily increased the minimum admission score over the 25 years I served as president. That strategy worked: Our graduation rate more than doubled to 79% over that same period. Even more important, our faculty told me that raising the academic bar resulted in a more vibrant classroom experience and a richer campus life.

Jim Doti

Former president, Chapman University"