Beginning this fall, the Boston University College of Fine Arts is no longer requiring SAT and ACT scores in prospective students’ applications.
According to its website, CFA aims to give its students a “specialized educational experience that demands inquiry and exploration, individuality and teamwork, and academic and artistic immersion.”
Prospective students applying to the Arvind and Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Honors College, a Duel Degree program or for merit scholarships are an exception to the waived score requirement, the CFA website stated.
Interim Dean of CFA Lynne Allen said in an email that the decision to stop requiring standardized test scores makes complete sense for the college, as the school has a distinctive application process already.
“The College of Fine Arts has always had a unique application process that includes standard application process via Undergraduate Admissions as well as an artistic review process with the individual schools,” Allen wrote in an email. “As a conservatory-style program, it seemed to make sense to move in this direction.”
Allen said test scores detract from CFA’s artistic review, and explained that the application process for prospective CFA students will remain rigorous despite the absence of scores.
“This underscores the significance of the artistic review in the application process unique to applicants to CFA,” Allen wrote. “The academic review process will still be quite rigorous and include submission of academic record, GPA, etc.”
Kelly Walter, associate vice president and executive director of admissions at BU, wrote in an email that BU’s admissions process enforces the idea of a holistic student, and the removal of test scores from CFA’s application is in line with Admission’s standards.
“For incoming freshmen at BU, high school GPA, not a standardized test score, is the best predictor of college success,” she wrote. “As a result, BU Admissions has always placed strong emphasis on a student’s academic performance and the rigor of their curriculum. We decided to align our admissions practices with the qualifications that are most predictive of success within a conservatory-style program, such as the one offered at CFA.”
Walter emphasized that prospective CFA students’ focus should be on their artistic portfolios, as CFA expects their students to be “both academically and artistically admissible.”
“We hold applicants to CFA to the same high standards of academic performance as applicants to the other nine undergraduate schools and colleges,” she wrote. “Additionally, we expect students who are most competitive for admission to CFA to possess exceptional artistic talent; talent that is best assessed during an audition or portfolio review rather than by a standardized test.”
Rodney Lister, a professor music, composition and theory in CFA, said he was aware of CFA’s actions regarding standardized test scores and is neither an advocate nor an opponent of the change, because he doesn’t think it affects prospective students either way.
“My impression is that for most of the students, it’s not an issue anyway,” Lister said. “So I guess it makes it a little easier for some.”
Richard Raiselis, a professor of painting in CFA, wrote in an email that the news caused him to have a split opinion.
“I was of two minds,” he said. “I thought, ‘Now we might attract those skilled candidates that we often lose to [Rhode Island School of Design] and [Maryland Institute College of Art]. But what if those student artists are not as intellectually prepared?’”
Raiselis said throughout his time at BU, he has witnessed freshman classes’ willingness to take on difficult assignments, and he worries that this may change because of CFA’s decision.
“The next year or two will reveal if this new experiment is a sound one,” Raiselis said.
Several CFA students differ in their opinions of CFA’s choice to eliminate standardized test scores from their application process.
Madeline Bucci, a freshman in the School of Music, said CFA’s decision is helpful for prospective students’ stress levels.
“It’s a huge stress reliever because I remember for my audition worrying about my audition, but then I also had to worry about my SAT scores,” Bucci said.
Livian Yeh, a second-year Master of Fine Arts candidate in playwriting, said CFA’s decision reflects poorly upon society’s view of artists.
“I’m kinda shocked that they don’t require standardized testing scores anymore,” Yeh said. “It just [perpetuates] this idea that artists aren’t good at anything else.”
Yeh reasons that even if a student wants to pursue art, they need to be proficient in other academic areas.
“I think school is important, and just because you want to be an artist doesn’t mean you’re able to forget about other options in your life,” Yeh said. “I mean if you don’t study math, I think a lot of doors may close to you if you don’t have that basic knowledge.”
