About 8,000 SAT booklets were locked up in two New Jersey post offices that had been closed due to anthrax contamination. The Trenton, NJ post office-closed Oct. 18-and the Princeton, NJ post office-closed Oct. 27-handle most of the incoming mail for the College Board.
More than 3,600 testing sites administered the SATs to about 550,000 students in October. The College Board did not receive either some or all of the answer sheets from 89 test centers. Test locations in almost 30 states across the nation were affected, as well as international testing sites in Germany, Italy, Ghana, Liberia and Haiti.
The College Board is offering several options to students whose tests are still missing and unscored as a result of the closing of the post offices. The College Board will allow affected students to register for the next scheduled SAT I test on Dec. 1 at no additional charge, to take makeup tests at the original test centers, at other locations at no additional charge or to receive a full refund.
But for many students, these options offer little consolation. Both SAT I and SAT II tests are an important part of admissions at colleges across the nation. The Washington Post reported on Nov. 14 that many of the affected high school students have been concerned that their scores would not reach their first-choice college before the early decision deadline, which was Nov. 1 for many colleges.
The admissions office at the College sent an email to early decision candidates in the affected regions. Dean of Admissions Tom Parker reassured applicants that admissions would be flexible when dealing with this issue."[The email said that] if you need to retake the SATs, we will simply delay the decision," said Parker. However, he added, as far as he knows, no applicants to the College have been affected.
Since most students were not taking the tests for the first time, colleges can rely on previous scores for their decision if necessary. However, many students felt confident that they had improved their scores on Oct. 13, according to the Nov. 14 issue of The Post.
"The College Board is encouraging colleges and scholarship agencies to place as much consideration and flexibility as possible in the application process to affected students," according to the College Board's press release.
"We're confident that we can make a decision on any affected students before regular deadlines," said Parker, commenting on what would happen if the the scores of any early decision candidate to the College have been delayed.
However, if colleges delay notification of early decisions, students may have to scramble to fill out applications for the regular deadline. The notification for early decision is usually Dec. 15, but a delayed notification would come closer to regular decision deadlines, which are as early as Dec. 31.
Colleges across the nation are trying to accommodate for the unusual circumstances. An attitude of flexibility is important in dealing with the affected students. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," said Parker, about the possibility of problems with early decision candidates. He added that he hopes that all candidates will remain unaffected.