Admissions Criteria

* Re “UC Admissions Criteria Skewed,” Sept. 28.

I fully agree with [Melanie] Havens’ views that many institutions unnecessarily handicap students from diverse backgrounds in their admissions policies. The problem is even more serious than Havens describes.

Several years ago, the Medical College Admissions Test was redesigned. The old MCAT was mainly a fact-based exam that reflected undergraduate course mastery. The new MCAT, I feel, is based primarily on verbal reasoning and quick reading ability. A slower reader, often a student who has not grown up in the United States, generally does very poorly on this exam. As a result, admission to medical school is denied because MCAT scores have become of primary importance in admissions decisions. In my opinion, the MCAT, as currently constructed, discriminates against slower readers. I believe that all students should be able to request double time for taking this exam. That would begin to erase what I feel to be a very biased exam.

Over and over, I see some of the best students in practical application of science do very poorly on the Graduate Record Exam. Here again, institutions should be very careful not to exclude students based on standardized tests. It is more difficult to examine the variety of other criteria that make up a student’s portfolio. Test scores are easy to evaluate. This nation, however, is at risk of losing the services of exceedingly talented individuals by reliance, often primarily, on standardized tests.

STEVEN B. OPPENHEIMER

Director, Center for Cancer & Developmental Biology

Cal State Northridge