Did your otherwise brilliant student get less-than-stellar scores on their ACT or SAT test? No problem!

Starting in the fall of 2009, two universities: Smith College and Wake Forest will no longer be requiring the tests as part of their enrollment requirements. Instead the selection process will be based on the applicant's high school curriculum, classroom performance, writing ability, extra curricular activities, and evidence of character and talent .

This translates into a lot more work for those who determine who is accepted and gives even more importance to high school grades already being inflated due to increased accountability on teachers and from pressure of helicopter parents on teachers and administrators.

Since there is evidence that ACT/SAT scores correlate with levels of household income, parental education and race and are not necessarily a good predictor of future academic success, it seems time to throw them out, but I have concerns about this new selection process as well.

Since I wasn't born into money, I spent free time and summers working at jobs to pay the bills. This could have been a a major disadvantage if I had been compared to peers with the luxury of being able to volunteer for charitable organizations or for unpaid character (and resume) building activities. I would have loved to have been able to teach children in Africa, but I needed the money from my waitressing job in Michigan to help finance my college education. I wonder how this sort of thing would factor into ACT-free enrollment formulas?