Hey fellow students! Recently, I've been hearing a lot about the adversity score calculator. Honestly, I'm kind of confused about what it is and how it affects our college applications. Can anyone shed some light on this? Do colleges really use this in their decision-making process? Any help would be appreciated!
Hi there! The adversity score, also known as the Environmental Context Dashboard (ECD) developed by the College Board, was a tool designed to provide colleges with additional information about students' socioeconomic backgrounds. It aimed to give admissions officers context about the challenges that a student might have faced based on factors like the quality of their high school, neighborhood crime rates, and family income levels.
However, in 2019, the College Board discontinued the use of the ECD due to controversy and pushback from educators, students, and institutions. Instead, they introduced a tool called Landscape, which is intended to offer similar information but with increased transparency. Landscape doesn't provide a single "adversity score." It instead offers a more comprehensive profile of a student's high school and neighborhood context. This allows admissions officers to better understand the circumstances in which a student has achieved academically.
To answer your question about whether colleges use this in their decision-making process: Yes, some colleges do use Landscape to take a student's background into account. However, it's essential to remember that every college has its own unique admissions process and weighs different factors differently. While some might place significant weight on the information provided by Landscape, others might rely more heavily on other aspects of an applicant's profile.
In summary, while Landscape can play a role in an institution's decision-making process, it's just one of the many factors that colleges consider when evaluating applicants. Focusing on maintaining strong grades, participating in meaningful extracurricular activities, and crafting compelling essays will ultimately have a more significant impact on your college admissions chances.
For more information on this topic click here: https://blog.collegevine.com/what-happened-to-the-sat-adversity-score/
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