It’s not a normal school day. Bronx Science student Sophia Mah ’22 shows up to school in a mask, with her pencils sharpened. She heads to her designated classroom to take the test.

The test is the Practice Scholastic Aptitude Test, commonly known as the PSAT. It is the practice version of the SAT, which is one of the more important exams that many high school students choose to take, given its importance in many college and university admission decisions.

As Sophia fills out her preparatory information (name, address, etc.), she is most concerned with making sure that everything is filled in sufficiently. She marks “yes” on question 8, unconcerned with it. 

“No. 8: “Fill in the ‘Yes’ circle in box 8 to let colleges, universities, scholarship programs, and educational opportunity organizations know that you are interested in receiving information about the educational and financial aid opportunities they offer. Colleges, universities, and scholarship programs that request it will receive information you provide to the College Board. They will NOT receive your actual test scores or telephone numbers.”

When selecting “Yes” to question 8 on the information page of her scantron, Sophia signed up for the Student Search Service. The Student Search Service (SSS) gives student information to colleges and universities. By saying yes to question 8, Sophia is permitting College Board to give her e-mail address to colleges. 

In a conversation with Sophia, I asked her why she had so many unread e-mails in her mailbox. She said it was because of the SSS. “At the beginning of the college process, I guess it was kind of helpful. It did pique my interest in a few schools, but after a while, college e-mails flooded my inbox. I found many of the schools that I applied to through word of mouth, personal research, and school events, so for me, the Student Search Service wasn’t all that useful.”

So while it can be useful to learn about schools you may not have known about, you will also need to weigh whether or not you want to receive an increase in e-mails from many of these schools, if you sign up for the Student Search Service.

So while it can be useful to learn about schools you may not have known about, you will also need to weigh whether or not you want to receive an increase in e-mails from many of these schools, if you sign up for the Student Search Service.