SAT & GRE Scores Are Not Indicators of Future Success

Writing about my graduate admission process long ago (see earlier post) When I contacted history professor Otey M Scruggs at Syracuse University about the PhD program there back in the early spring of 1992, I immediately hit it off with him on the phone. Professor Scruggs was African Americans with a PhD in history from Harvard University in 1958. We had similar backgrounds in athletics with him a decathlete at Santa Barbara University in California. In fact he received an invitation to an US Olympic trial losing a spot on the team to the gold medalist Rayford Johnson. Professor Scruggs advocated for me and got the Dean’s Office at the Maxwell School to see that I gained admission to the school and tuition scholarship. This happened after the history department had already given out scholarship money to it’s in coming class of graduate students for the 1992-1993 academic year. This was a real break for me because I did not get accepted to any of other graduate programs. As I said earlier my transcript was suspect and I certainly understand why the other schools rejected me. But my current achievements also go to show that standardized test don’t tell the whole story and they are not the best indicators of student’s ability. Just imagine, I’ve taught at Morehouse and Marist Colleges and I’m starting a new job at Babson College this fall. In addition, I’ve turned down a job at a major research one institution. As a high school senior I could not have gained admission to any of these institutions based on my SAT scores, class rank, and GPA. In addition I publish with major university presses and I am talking head to the media on my area of expertise.