In a recent speech to the American Council on Education, UC President Richard Atkinson made two recommendations concerning the UC Freshman Admissions policy. The first was that the SAT I be made optional and not be required for admission. The second was that all UC campuses move away from admissions processes focused on quantitative formulas and instead adopt a comprehensive, holistic evaluation of applicants.

Each UC campus has its own selection process for admitting students from its pool of eligible applicants. The most important ingredient in each campus evaluation is the depth and breadth of the student's high school academic program and how well the student has done. The SAT I verbal and mathematics tests assist in calibrating this performance. At UCLA, the initial academic review of applications is very broad, and all applicants from a given high school are reviewed together. The criteria include the GPA on college preparatory courses, three SAT II exams, the ACT or SAT I test scores, the number of courses in each academic area beyond the minimum requirements, the number of honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or college-level courses, the performance on AP and IB exams, the quality of the senior year program and the degree to which individual applicants have challenged themselves within the context of their high school offering.

For the balance of students admitted to the College of Letters & Science who have not been admitted directly solely on the strength of their academic record, there is an additional comprehensive review of the student's entire application. The academic portion of this comprehensive review incorporates all the additional academic information in the application, beyond the standardized test scores, including a close analysis of the student's transcript together with whatever details the student has supplied concerning his or her intellectual life outside the classroom. The personal portion of the review examines all extra and non-curricular aspects of the applicant's background. The student's essay is read carefully with attention paid to individual efforts to surmount circumstances in life that could affect high school academic success. Both the academic review and the comprehensive review have been in place for over a decade.

President Atkinson's criticism of the SAT I is not the first to be targeted at the test. In addition to not being tied to classroom achievement, differences in scores by race, economic level and gender have been noted. The verbal section of the SAT I has also been criticized, particularly the verbal analogy section, as possibly handicapping non-native English speakers. On the other hand, a large section of the SAT I verbal test attempts to measure students' ability to read passages critically. This is certainly important for college-level study. The mathematics section measures students' mathematical and quantitative ability outside of an individual course context.

What would happen if the SAT I tests were eliminated? The results of the SAT I and SAT II tests in English and mathematics are highly correlated, so the overall ability to predict freshman college performance would not be greatly affected. Thus, the outcome of the selection process at UCLA would not change dramatically. However, there would be less information available to evaluate an individual student's record. In general, admission readers need all the information that they can get, particularly when there are multiple applicants for each available place.

Certainly, the increasingly competitive environment of college admission has heightened the public's perceived importance of the SAT I. This year, UCLA received more than 40,000 applications for approximately 11,000 acceptances for a freshman class of 4,200 students. The SAT I coaching services and resulting advertising have increased parents' and students' anxiety that high SAT I scores are the most important ingredient in a student's record. This has led schools to devote more time to preparation for the SAT I and other high- stakes tests at the expense of more important educational activities. The results of the SAT I test are important, but the most important indicator of college success is the strength and breadth of a student's academic record in high school. Colleges and universities and the College Board have an obligation to get this point across to parents, teachers and students, and to try to put the role of the SAT I in proper perspective.

Charles Buchanan is a professor of physics and chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools; Philip Curtis is emeritus professor of mathematics and representative to the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools; Rae Lee Siporin is director of Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools.