Temple University President Neil D. Theobald announced that the university will no longer require standardized test scores in the admissions process.  

This optional application process, called “Temple Option,” is for “talented students who show great potential for success but don’t perform well on standardized tests, ” according to Temple University. Temple University will be the first public research university in the Northeast to office such an option.

Temple officials stated that students who choose not to submit test scores will be required to answer written questions created to determine attributes such as leadership, self-awareness, goal-setting, determination, and "grit."

This comes as great news to students who do not excel in standardized tests for various reasons. In recent years, critics have claimed that the SAT is an inaccurate indicator of college readiness that discriminates against students of color and those from low-income families. Even David Coleman, the new president of the College Board, believes SAT testing has “problems.”

As a former student from public schools in the School District of Philadelphia, I applaud Temple University’s efforts to decrease the hold the SATs and ACTs have on the academic aspirations of young, talented students. I was a hard-working, intelligent student who received mostly As and had a 4.0 GPA, in addition to participating in various extracurricular activities. My high school required us to taking SAT practice exams every year to prepare us for the real thing. However, none of that benefited me. I was a horrible standardized test-taker. I took the SATs twice and the ACT once and did terribly on both. My SAT score did improve the second time I took the exam, but it was still lower that average student admitted to Temple University. I was accepted to that university, but how many students were not because of that issue?

Temple University, in North Philadelphia, receives applications from many Philadelphia public school students who lack the resources at home and at their schools to properly excel in the classroom, let alone in those horrid exams. Students shouldn’t be viewed and judged by just one test score, but rather by their whole academic career, after-school activities, and general life achievements and goals. Students need to be supported and encouraged that they can succeed in school and in their future no matter where they come from or how they grew up. By allowing standardized test scores to be optional in the college application process, Temple is enabling college access to students who might have dismissed the idea of going to college because they weren’t “smart enough,” or felt as though they couldn’t compete on the same level as students coming from schools that have the resources to prepare students for the exams. They are acknowledging that every student who wants to do something and be something should have the opportunity to thrive.

“By giving students more choices, we open doors to more first-generation students and those from underserved communities whose enormous academic promise may be overlooked by conventional measures of achievement,” Theobald said.