The SAT absolutely does not reflect a student’s full potential in University.
The SAT in its current state contains two components; a Mathematics section and a Literary Components section. While a baseline understanding of mathematics is essential for most higher-education disciplines, the level that is discussed on the SAT is not necessary for most Universities to evaluate. Fields including understanding law, liberal arts, communications, etc. do not require a deep understanding of these mathematical concepts. If I were a college looking for potential students in these fields, I would much rather look for someone who is well spoken and has people skills.
One may argue that the nature of the English section of the SAT is where these soft skills and writing abilities are tested, but it typically fails at this as well. In order to put the test into an objective, standardized form, the exam can really only ask multiple-choice questions, requiring students to memorize long lists of definitions instead of actually improving their writing abilities. For a University to be able to verify social and writing skills, they would be much better off reading through Common-App Essays and looking at extracurricular activities instead of Standardized Scores.
It’s also worthy to note, with regard to the SAT, that at a higher level, the SAT stops being able to accurately evaluate a person’s ability in these topics. Hundreds of thousands of students across the nation have the ability to pay for private tutoring options, people that have taken the SAT dozens of times and have memorized the patterns of questions like the back of their hand. If the point of the SAT is to predict a student’s potential, this is creating a discrepancy in the system, as the students who get a 1600 are usually only able to do so through the usage of excessive tutoring. Students who come from a lower financial background or from a low-population area are simply not able to get ahold of these resources, even if they are significantly brighter than those in the middle of New York City.
While the SAT definitely has the right idea when it comes to objectifying a student’s mathematical and literary ability, an objective approach isn’t necessarily the easiest, or best, way to go. When evaluating a student’s ability in factors that matter to a University, such as people skills and professional development, the University is typically much more interested in a student that gets involved during their high school years. They theoretically should be much more interested in someone who has volunteer or work experience, rather than someone who can memorize a lot of terms and formulas. Due to the inherently biased nature of this particular “objective” system, it cannot be concluded that the SAT reflects any one student’s ability in University.