Welcome, everybody once again to Mr. Hague’s podcast. All right. Today, the three-lettered entrance exams talk about the S.A.T. and the act. Well, just mentioning that might bring a couple of attitude shifts depending on your student type. if you are anything the way I was, it might bring shivers down your spine. The very letters S.A.T..
Wow. Yeah, I took that a couple of times. A few times, and I didn’t do that badly. I did well enough to get into Penn State, but man, oh, man, that I was. I am scared of those things. I didn’t even consider the act till later, but the S.A.T. that just. I just never really developed a brain for that.
Yeah, but, you know, that was me. I mean, some students just aren’t very good with the SATs, and. But then again, some students are like, SATs. Bring it. Let’s do it. I have the confidence that I’m going to kill it. Yep. So if you’re that type of student, that’s awesome. Okay. But there are a lot of students who are struggling with it, and they try to get into a certain college, and that certain college requires a certain kind of score from these entrance exams.
And you can be either resentful with it or you can be like, well, you know, this is what needs to, be done to get into a particular college. You know, for those of you who have the attitude I had about this, that, you know, this podcast should shed some light on the importance of the entrance exams and why they’re being used.
And I think once you find out why they’re being used by certain colleges, you will probably have an understanding and, and not be so resentful about it, you know, and of course, if you’re like, hey, let’s do it, let’s go ahead and do it. I can do this. Well, that’s awesome. So this podcast is mainly for, you know, students who are kind of dreading the SATs, but at the same time, if you are doing well in it, I like to educate you in exactly the spirit behind these, these entrance exams, why they’re being used, the controversy behind them.
And, you know, for the most part, just the essence behind the SATs, how to study for it, how to prepare for it. It’s not like studying for a regular school exam. There’s a little bit more strategy involved and a little bit more knowledge. And course you get better with experience. And so let’s talk about it okay?
So let’s discuss some of the misconceptions of these entrance exams. No, it’s not there to weed out the weak underperforming students okay? So if you’re not doing good in school that they’re going to well this is the nail in your coffin. You’re not going anywhere okay. Now if anything the SATs and the Act can save you. I’ve seen students with a 2.5 GPA.
They’re not very good at school. They don’t like study, they’re not motivated. But then they just absolutely do brilliantly in the SATs and they get into the college of their choice. Okay. So the SATs are valued in many, many ways, by many, many colleges. And it’s I understand that sometimes it could be discriminatory or many minority groups have said that.
Oh, well, it doesn’t cater to a lot of minority or inner-city youths. Well, as a teacher, I’ve seen people of color, students of color, blacks and Hispanics. They took the s.a.t.s and they did amazing. They excelled. They got the top 5% score in the nation and they went to the college of their choice. I mean, I don’t see that they’re biased.
I mean, yes, inner-city schools and some, low-income schools may not have the resources or the valued books to allow a student to have the same quality exposure, as a more wealthier or, upper class, area. but I can’t speak for everybody, I’m just saying that I’ve seen minority groups, blacks, and Hispanics, all sorts of races.
They thrive in the SATs, mainly because they do things differently. They have a different study habits. They do. They prepare better. I mean, it’s a matter of reading and increasing your vocabulary, doing some math problems. And of course, there’s another misconception about the College Board itself. The people who make these entrance exams are saying that they’re greedy. They charge a lot.
They make over $1 billion a year. Well, look, okay, the College Board is a nonprofit, and so they make $1 billion. What’s it to you? I mean, they’re making a billion, billion dollars. Okay, you know, the bottom line is that you know what? These little things were you. That just tells me you’re not ready for the entrance exams.
Let’s face it, if you’re trying to tell yourself the reasons why you shouldn’t take it, well, I mean, it. That’s kind of like you need to have an attitude shift. It doesn’t matter. What do you think? That you should take it or not? If the college wants it, you need to deliver it. I mean, so what if they’re making $1 billion?
A college wants to see the scores. That’s all that matters. You need to shift your attitude. It doesn’t matter how corrupt, how expensive, how unfair. Those entrance exams are the colleges they want to see some sort of indicator that you will be successful in college within the first couple of years there. And that’s the purpose. You might think, well, oh, okay.
What about, GPAs? And what about extracurricular activities? Well, let me tell you something about college. The college environment is not like a high school environment. And you might be telling stuff. Oh, I knew that. Well, let me tell you, a case, from someone who’s been to a couple of colleges. Okay. it’s a rather lonely place.
I mean, yeah, you’ll make friends, you’ll go party, you go crazy. I mean, you know, you go to football games, or you might stay in a dorm and you might stay up all night and be with friends. But the bottom line is, that your success is really about you. In college, you have to carry your weight. Nobody is there to hold your hand.
And I’m not saying that no, they’re going to help you not you know, some professors will will help you. Some teachers, and assistants, they’ll help you. But you got to seek it out. It’s really up to you, okay? It’s up to you to study. It’s up to you to go to libraries. It’s up to you to do your research.
You know, the college environment is very much up to you. And the last thing that colleges want to do is to, enroll or remove a student because of underperformance. They don’t want to do that because it’s very hurtful. It’s it doesn’t make the school look good. They have certain numbers they want to maintain. For instance, you know, the amount of people who graduate as opposed to how many people are accepted.
And we’ll go into that in a few minutes here, they want their entering freshmen transfers to go on to graduate. They don’t want to deal with students who are underperforming and have to be removed from their program. It’s painful. It’s embarrassing. Nobody wins. So these entrance exams are a good indicator to see, to measure whether this particular student, a particular student, will be successful within the first two years of attending college.
And yeah, you can say, oh, well, the UK’s the University of California’s are bypassing the SATs and they’re making an optional and a bunch of these other schools are also making SATs optional. Let me shed some light on why they’re doing that. And to be quite honest, I don’t know. I’m just speculating here. You gotta understand we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and colleges are struggling to get students to come in all across the country, enrollment is kind of down.
students do not really want to learn remotely. They want to be on campus. They want to experience the college life. And who can blame them? They should have the college life as a part of growing up. But because of what’s happening, enrollment is down. The more students you have, the more revenue you generate.
But despite it all, and even though there’s the thought of the University of California and some of the schools making the SATs and the act is optional, there is no way that the schools that hold a high reputation worldwide, I mean, people across the planet want to go to the University of California system. There’s no way that they’re going to lower the quality of students that they seek.
Let’s talk about three California colleges and one other college. So the three California colleges are Stanford, USC, and UCLA. And then let’s compare it to Arizona State University. The acceptance rate for Stanford is only 5%. So in other words, 95% of applicants get rejected. The entrance rate for USC is also 5% a UCLA. Well, a little relief. It’s 14% highly, highly competitive.
Now Arizona State 88% acceptance rate. So yeah, pretty much if you can breathe, you can go to Arizona State. But hear me out, though, okay? Hear me up before you. I went to Arizona State. There is something to be said about that. Okay. And Stanford, remember the 5% acceptance rate. The average SAT is 1420 to 1570. And the highest you can get is 1600 SATs.
The average gain is between 1420 to 1570. So 1570 out of 1600. That’s a near-perfect score. These people are smart, they’re brilliant. They are just academically superior. At USC. It’s a little bit lower. 1340 to 1530 is the average. So some people get 1340. Some people get 1530, some people get 1600. UCLA okay. we’re talking a little bit lower.
You know, about 100 points lower than USC, 200 points lower than Stanford. So the average is between 1290 to 1520, which, by the way, is amazing. And Arizona State’s average S.A.T. score is about 1100 to about 1320, which is not challenging to do. I mean, it’s not easy, but it’s and it’s not bad, but certainly a far cry from what Stanford and USC and UCLA want.
The average GPA of the students who enter Stanford is 4.2 on a 400 scale, which is the same for USC. So remember, average, I don’t think there’s, less than a 3.7 or 3.6. I’m sure some people have 4.5. I know students have a 4.7. So, UCLA same thing. 4.3 unaffordable scale. Now assume the average GPA is about a 3.42 on the A4O scale.
And if you’re a decent student, you can easily get that. Here’s where the differences between the average salary of students within the beginning years of their career at Arizona State, the average salary of students who graduate there and when they go into the workforce is about $47,000 a year. Not bad. Some people make less, some people make more. UCLA the average salary is a little higher.
60,000. Okay. Remember Arizona State 47, UCLA is a 60 USC the first year of careers for graduates 74,000. So you’re talking about a whopping $30,000 a year more than the Arizona State student. And Stanford, as they say in New York. Forget about it. The average stand for students, that graduate and the solid salary that they make within the first few years of their career, is $94,000.
That’s 50 almost $50,000 more than ASU, $34,000 more than UCLA, $20,000 more than USC. These people are determined and their accomplishments. Now, it’s not to say that if you go to, you know, the local junior college over here or, you know, some other small, unknown college that you’re going to make about, 20,000, I don’t believe that one bit.
You can I know people who dropped out. Mark Zuckerberg dropped out. Look at him. One of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, dropped out. Steve Jobs and everything went well. He did go. He dropped out. So. But those are exceptions to the rule. The bottom line is that these students are exceptional, and the schools will not undermine their reputation.
Okay. You have to understand, that Stanford is a think tank. It is one of the world’s largest think tanks. Countries, nations, and dignitaries look to Stanford and their professors for advice for basically being a think tank. you got to come up with sound decision-making. You have to offer good advice to these world leaders. And a lot of these schools are USC, Stan, UCLA and Stanford.
They have a lot of Nobel Prize winners. Do you think the Nobel Prize winner is going to settle for somebody who’s a party animal? Oh, they’re going to work with people who are the best. They’re going to want the best students in the world. They want to have students with strong minds, a strong passion for learning, and a strong passion for getting results.
So not to say that you are seen easily. You don’t party. I’m sure they do. I’ve been to Stanford parties. Okay, so. But those students don’t go ahead and have fun during the weekends, but they’ll put down their drinks and they go ahead and into the week and they study textbooks and they read like maybe 5 or 6 books a week.
It’s just really crazy. So back to the entrance exams. Those are the kind of students because they want to see how tough it is. The higher the score, the more likely you’ll succeed. And believe me, at Stanford, you see us seeing UCLA or any of the UC systems. It is rigorous. It is tough. It is hard. It is very, very challenging.
And let’s go through one more stat. So let’s talk about how many people graduate. So Stanford 5% acceptance rate but a 94% graduation rate. In other words, 94% of the entering freshmen go on to graduate from USC again, 5% acceptance rate, but 92% go on to graduate at UCLA. 14% acceptance rate, 82% go on to graduate, and Arizona State 88% acceptance rate.
But only 55% go on to graduate. So you tell me why that is. You, 88% of your applicants, come into your school, and then only 55% of them. And I thought that was high when I was there. I think the graduation rate was like 30%. Okay. I mean, what is the quality of students? Are you getting it?
Arizona State was a tough school. It was hard when I got in there. I mean, it was hard. I had to study my brain off. I mean, it was they who weed out the weaker students, the students that don’t apply themselves. You have to study. And so the grad now here’s the thing. The transfer students, you have to have a 3.0 pretty much to get in.
So a little bit more rigorous, entering into Arizona State I’m not trying to mock Arizona State, okay? I mean, there’s a reason why they have that. And it’s an exceptional school. It’s a major research university. A lot of great things there. Beautiful campus. I mean, it’s, it’s a great experience, but. It’s not Stanford. It’s not Harvard, it’s not Yale.
It’s none of that. If you have students who at Stanford, I mean, you’re getting close to perfect scores on their SATs. That tells you something about the students. That means they can handle Stanford. Okay, so here’s for ASU. 45% can’t handle Arizona State. Okay. So that’s why these entrance exams are there. Because they are a good indicator of the success of a student within the first couple of years of college.
So what do you know, like I said, what is the spirit behind it? I mean, how can he be successful with these entrance exams? Let me tell you something. If by some weird wizard wizardry. Okay, these schools that I just mentioned, the, the UK’s or any other reputable school, if they do replace it, replace the, the entrance exams if they, if they decide they’re not going to use it, you better darn well believe they’ll replace it with something else.
And to me, that’s even more frightening. What if these schools come up with their entrance exam? Yikes. I mean, let’s look at West Point. Not only do you have to have an exceptional academic record, and an exceptional performance in the entrance exams, but you have to have a physical and you have to have certain letters of recommendation from high-class people like senators and congressmen.
I mean, you know, every every school is different. Every school looks for different things and has different ways of measuring. But with the SATs, it’s nationwide. You can prepare for it. Now, if every one of these schools has their form of entrance exams. Oh my God, which one do you prefer? So I don’t think that type of measurement is going to go away I don’t.
They might say, yeah, SATs are optional, but if you decide you want to take it and you do well in it, turn it in. Especially if your GPA is not good. If you did less than a 3.0 in high school exceptional performance at the SATs will save you. help you get into a college, no doubt.
I mean, the SATs here. Here’s the thing about the SATs. The SATs measure. You’re ability to learn things outside of the classroom. The act. more measures of what a student may already know. So, like, there’s, you know, biology and English and math. It covers material that the students should have learned during high school. So it’s a different scoring system.
It’s a different kind of measurement. I don’t think it’s as valued as much as the S.A.T.. The S.A.T. is, you know, you don’t know what they’re going to give you. What kind of questions? The last. I mean, there’s the reading, there’s the writing. Now, there is the math part. And with, the reading or the English part, they give you paragraphs to analyze the paragraphs.
There are analogies. there’s, you know, a lot of other little gimmicky things. And it’s all strategy. The successful people who go through the s.a.t.s, read, and they don’t just end their academics in the classroom. In other words, once they leave a classroom, they put it all behind. Forget about it until the next day. No successful SAT. People read books.
They read magazines. They read journals. They read peer-reviewed journals. They read reputable literature, the National Geographic, and the Smithsonian. They read all that stuff. They’re curious minds. They study things. I mean, they have answers to just about everything because they have a form of curiosity. They read the newspaper and of course, a lot of them read books.
Harry Potter, you better believe it. That’s awesome. These young kids start reading Harry Potter. Awesome. I had a parent who never really emphasized reading. I mean, I was good at math, and that helped save my SATs. You know, my dad was more science, more, you know, engineering kind of, person. So he emphasized, more about math and numbers, and I did well, but never really did.
He asked me to read and was never really concerned about my reading ability. And I have to be very honest. That to me is extremely important because if you can learn to read and read well and comprehend, everything else comes with it, even the math. However, the top-notch high school students are really from the northeast, the Boston, the New Jersey, and New York area.
Those are exceptional. Why can’t colleges just go by the GPA? Well, that would be nice, but here’s why. Simply put, not all schools are alike. Getting straight A’s from one school may not be the same as getting straight A’s from another school. You know, these colleges recruit from specific schools, not just any school, and certainly not just for sports.
When I was substitute teaching, I would go to different high schools and sub different subjects. And one thing I would notice is that I would seek recruiters. And I’m not going to mention the high school, but in this one high school, I saw recruiters from UCLA, Stanford, Yale, Harvard. Yeah. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of amazing, amazing, high, high powered colleges recruit from this one high school.
And I’m like, wow, you know, what is what is it about these high school? Well, those kids are well-groomed. They’re smart. They’re they they sit quietly. They do their work. And then when they’re not doing their work, they’re reading a novel. And then I would go to another high school, which is, I mean, not a bad-looking high school.
But again, I’m not going to mention them. But I sit there and kids, if they see a sub, they’re not doing the work. They’re kind of talking. They are kind of just doing their own thing and making noise. They’re on their phones and they’re certainly not reading any novels. But guess what? No recruiters. Okay. Nothing. Nobody. Zilch. Okay.
Because the schools don’t have the numbers that these reputable colleges look for. Now, some schools offer several career pathways. They also offer Advanced Placement courses and IB courses, maybe even some early college programming. So those are schools that kind of set you apart. But again, the SAT is a stronger, reputable indicator of success.
Not all these high-end courses. I just think that the classes the schools should better prepare the students for the S.a.t.s. So while the GPA is a strong indicator of academic success, it’s not the only game in town. Again, colleges wait way or give value to the GPA based on which school they came from. But this is universal.
It’s everywhere. You’re competing against all people, all students from around the country. Okay, so now I have read that the UC system is making the SATs or the entrance exams optional. But like I said, it’s nothing for you to get up and jump for joy. if you have a low GPA or if your GPA does not meet the average, student, you need to do well in the cities.
Taking the SAT can get you into the college of your choice if you do well. I know people got SATs and they got scholarships. They did exceptionally well on the s.a.t.s and they were offered scholarships. You know, there are several ways that you can prepare for the SATs in the Act. There’s educational planner.org, and there are a couple of other websites on me, on Mr. Hakes class.com that you can look to that can help you prepare for the SATs.
one other way of doing it is to take preparatory courses, either online, buy a good book, and just take test after test after stuff. Test. It’s all about strategy. There’s a method to the madness, you know, read about what the test scores look for, and they’re out there. It’s no secret. Study the formulas. You know there are ways to win that may not just be covered in school because you have to remember, schools support the type of people in their immediate community.
The SAT is about you versus the world. What do you do outside of that? Read science articles, read newspapers, read intellectual articles, read materials that bore you. Seriously, I’m being very honest here. Read about how the crab meats are okay, or how an earthworm digs into the ground, or whatever the case may be. Read something that is so utterly boring and you have no interest in it, but you read it because you want to train your eyes to read and comprehend it.
Take a speed reading course and learn to read with your eyes. Instead of saying the verbiage to your mind. You know, like sometimes you read, you kind of talk to yourself. If you say things to yourself, reading with your eyes will increase your vocabulary. Okay. Use flashcards. Write a word on one side and the definition on the other. That’s important.
And take practice, test after practice, test after practice. Keep on doing it. And if there’s a moment where you are like okay, I’m ready now then stop taking the practice test. Then go take the S.a.t.s and get into Stanford. Okay. So, it’s again, it all depends on which college you want to go to and what kind of life you want.
It. It is, you know, going to these colleges that I mentioned, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and even Arizona State. It’s a shift. It can be stressful. And so they want to make sure they have the right candidate. They can handle the stress level. But at the same time have fun, and enjoy. It’s a very big time in your life.
I have faith in you. This is Mr. Hague. You do great. You ha.