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These SC colleges don’t require SAT, ACT


Last updated October 17, 2019

By Tina Underwood

Nine institutions of higher learning in South Carolina don’t require SAT or ACT results for admission, including Furman University. The Greenville News reached out to Melissa Cline, associate dean of admissions, and Paul Thomas, professor of Education, for their thoughts on the test-optional approach.

“The strongest indicator of student success is how they’ve performed in the classroom throughout high school,” Cline says. Citing a large body of research on the subject, Thomas says, “standardized tests are far more strongly correlated with out-of-school factors than they are to in-school factors. Standardized tests are a stronger reflection of factors beyond a child’s control than they are of a child’s ability.”

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