No secrets with College Board or ACT

On the College Confidential discussion boards over time, a half dozen or so University of Florida applicants have reported something unusual. Soon after applying, it seems that SAT or ACT scores they had not sent (on purpose), and that were not on their transcripts, mysteriously appeared in their online application files. When the applicants followed up, UF officials conceded that they were linked to a state database of all scores and told the candidates not to worry since only the best ACT or SAT score would be shown to decision makers.

Remarkably, it turns out that students actually sign away access to all of their scores when they apply to a Florida state school so College Board and ACT can legally cough up the unreported scores. From the 2008 FSU application section where students must sign to apply:

“I further agree to the release of any transcript, student record, and test scores to this institution (including any ACT, SAT, and SAT-II score reports that this institution may request from ACT or College Board).”

Curious wording for many reasons, including the fact that SAT-IIs are not required by FSU or any other Florida colleges.

I checked several other Florida public colleges with printable applications and they all had similar wording, though some less specific. (It is impossible to check those, like UF, with  online-only applications unless you are actually applying.)

Though I can only confirm that this practice is taking place in Florida, it is easy to imagine that College Board and/or ACT has similar arrangements with other states or institutions. (If you see similar verbiage on applications it might be a red flag.)

There are at least two major implications here. One is that any time or energy spent strategizing to hide SAT or certain ACT scores, or the number of attempts, is wasted on colleges that already have all your scores.

And then there is the issue that College Board and ACT are, in many cases, collecting fees from students to send scores to schools that already have them. Now I guess their secrets are out, too.