Bucknell University Inflated SAT Scores For Years

Wikimedia CommonsBucknell University admitted that it inflated its freshman SAT scores for seven years.

From 2006-2012, Bucknell omitted some SAT scores which were mostly lower than what was reported.

As a result, average scores from Bucknell were 16 points higher than the real average scores.

Bucknell University president John C. Bravman revealed the shady practices in a statement to the board of trustees.

"Enrollment management leadership no longer with the University prepared these inaccurate numbers," he wrote. "That leadership reported the inaccurate numbers to the Board and to other officers of the University, internal offices and governance committees, and posted the inaccurate numbers on the University website."

Bravman explained:

I am disappointed to report that when calculating the SAT scores (math and critical reading) of the classes entering the University from 2006 through 2012, the University omitted from the calculation the SAT scores of a number of students. Some of these omitted scores were higher than the SAT scores that the University reported, but most were lower. Meanwhile, for several of the years in which errant SAT data were reported, the University reported ACT scores for the entering classes that were actually one point lower than the correct figures.

The outcome of all these errors was that our SAT scores across each of the seven years were reported to various organizations, most notably this Board, as being higher than they actually were. Specifically, during each of those seven years, the scores of 13 to 47 students were omitted from the SAT calculation, with the result being that our mean scores were reported to be 7 to 25 points higher than they actually were on the 1600-point scale. During those seven years of misreported data, on average 32 students per year were omitted from the reports and our mean SAT scores were on average reported to be 16 points higher than they actually were.

Bravman insisted that Bucknell is fixing all the historical mistakes and has scheduled a call with U.S. News & World Report – which does one of the biggest college rankings out there — to make corrections.

Bucknell was ranked 32nd among all national liberal arts colleges on U.S. News & World Report's latest set of rankings.