HIGHEST SAT SCORE POSSIBLE TRIAL

“The Harvard applicant pool is overwhelmingly strong on all dimensions,” school lawyers wrote in a June court filing. Typically, admitted Harvard classes number around 1,700 students. The attorneys noted that, of the 26,000 American applicants to the Class of 2019, roughly 3,500 had perfect SAT math scores, 2,700 had perfect SAT verbal scores, and nearly 1,000 earned a perfect overall score on the SAT or ACT. In their own pre-trial filings, University lawyers wrote it would be impossible for the school to rely on SAT scores alone - too many Harvard hopefuls earn perfect marks each year. More than 20 campus student groups filed an amicus brief in July criticizing “SFFA’s erroneous assumption that test scores are a valid and reliable indicator of merit.” Harvard and its supporters disagree, arguing the SAT is an imperfect way to measure a candidate’s worth. Arcidiacono, whom SFFA retained as an expert witness, wrote in a pre-trial report that, “by controlling for test scores, one can show that being held to a higher standard than, all else equal.” In pre-trial filings, SFFA lawyers argued Harvard admissions officers should solely consider “objective” criteria - such as students’ SAT scores and GPAs - when deciding which high schoolers to accept.ĭuke economist Peter S. 15 in the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston. The case, which could decide the fate of affirmative action in the United States, kicked off four years ago when anti-affirmative action advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard over allegations it discriminates against Asian-American applicants.

HIGHEST SAT SCORE POSSIBLE TRIAL

18 marked the fourth day of the high-profile trial and the last day of the long-serving dean’s marathon testimony. Lee ’72 presented data on the demographic breakdown of applicants and admits’ SAT scores as part of his questioning of Dean of Admissions William R. Asian-American applicants on average scored highest on the SAT and African-American applicants scored lowest. The same general pattern held true for Harvard applicants belonging to these racial groups in this time period.

Every section of the SAT has a maximum score of 800.īy comparison, white admits earned an average score of 745 across all sections, Hispanic-American admits earned an average of 718, Native-American and Native-Hawaiian admits an average of 712, and African-American admits an average of 704. Over an 18-year period stretching from 1995 to 2013, Asian-American students admitted to Harvard scored higher on the SAT than did their peer admits from other racial groups, according to data released in the admissions trial last week.Ī Crimson analysis of the previously confidential dataset - which spans admissions cycles starting with the Class of 2000 and ends with the cycle for the Class of 2017 - revealed that Asian-Americans admitted to Harvard earned an average SAT score of 767 across all sections.

Highest sat score possible