To be considered for admission, international students must have the academic, linguistic, and financial abilities to successfully complete the professional program. Specific requirements are as follows:

Academic Requirements
International applicants must fulfill the same undergraduate academic requirements as United States applicants.

Foreign Transcripts
International applicants are required to submit official foreign transcripts to an approved foreign transcript evaluation service for a course-by-course U.S. equivalency report. The official evaluation should then be sent to OptomCAS. We highly recommend that you contact the foreign transcript evaluation service as early as possible. The service may take several weeks to process your foreign transcript once it is received. Below is a list of commonly used and accepted evaluation services.

Testing and Interview Requirements

• All applicants must take the Optometry Admission Test (OAT). Other accepted entrance exams includes the MCAT, DAT and PCAT.
• If English is not the primary language, the student will be required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

Visa Information
Students who are outside the US and admitted to the UAB School of Optometry must generally obtain an F-1 or J-1 student visa to enter the US to begin classes. The UAB Office of International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) will assist you and provide the information necessary to obtain a visa after admission. Specific information on sponsorship and financial requirements can be obtained from:

International Student and Scholar Services
Melvin H. Sterne Library
917 13th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35294
Telephone (205) 934-3328
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

May the Best Man or Woman Win

Establishing Fair Criteria for College Admissions Tests Our Intelligence

By Miriam Schulman

An old teacher of mine used to claim he graded our papers by throwing them all up the stairs and giving A's to the ones that landed on the top step. Now, there was a case of someone treating every student equally.

Although this example is obvious reductio ad absurdum, it serves to demonstrate an important point: Equal is not necessarily fair. That principle is worth reiterating in any discussion of affirmative action in college admissions, which often boils down to a controversy over fairness. While people may argue that everyone should be treated exactly the same, the truth is that we all favor some sorts of criteria. The ethical trick is to make those criteria morally relevant.

If you think this is an easy matter, consider legacy admissions young people who get into a school because their parents are alums. According to a report from U.C.-Berkeley's Institute for the Study of Social Change issued in 1991, more legacy students were admitted to 10 of the country's most elite institutions than the combined number of all African Americans and Chicanos admitted under affirmative action programs.

Many people defend legacy admissions as acceptable because they help to ensure the financial continuity of the institution, without which no one would be able to enter the university. But such a rationale can be a slippery slope. Indeed, the hypocrisy tweakers had a field day recently when the Los Angeles Times reported that several of the U.C. regents who had voted to abolish affirmative action had themselves pulled strings to get relatives, friends, and the children of business associates into UCLA.

Morally Relevant Criteria
My point here is not so much to challenge the moral relevance of this particular preference, but to point out that race is only one among many possible attributes we might take into account in admission decisions. If, ultimately, we want to disallow it as a basis for preference, we should be prepared to justify why it is any less worthy than other characteristics we do consider.

One justifiable criterion might be ability: May the best man or woman win. While there may be general agreement on the relevance of this determinant, there is much less agreement on a fair way to measure it. On the surface, it might seem logical that the people with the best grades and scores should get the college slots. Indeed, this argument is at the heart of several cases, such as Bakke vs. Regents of the University of California, which have challenged affirmative action in the courts.

Although we might conclude that grades and scores are the most objective criteria we can come up with to assess ability, there are more than a few reasons to question our moral certainty about the justice of this system. First, standards of grading vary enormously from school to school; an A from one might be a C from another. Such variability was behind the creation of standardized tests like the SATs, which were supposed to provide a single measure for students across the country.

But these tests have been accused repeatedly of bias against minorities. In 1990, a national commission sponsored by the Ford Foundation found that the differences in test scores between minority and majority test takers were typically larger than the differences in their grades or job ratings. "We must stop pretending that any single standard test can illuminate equally well the talents and help promote the learning of people from dramatically different backgrounds," their report concluded.

Flutists and Football Players
While academic ability is hard to measure fairly, most people still want to include that factor in college admissions. But it is not, by far, the only characteristic that might be considered. A long-established criterion has been diversity. By this, I don't mean only the relatively new argument that student bodies should reflect the multiethnic society from which they are drawn; I mean the old practice of creating a freshman class that has a much-needed linebacker, a new first flute for the university orchestra, and a high-school senior-class president who may go on to a leadership position in college student government.

Athletic prowess, musical talent, and unusual community service have all been defended as morally acceptable considerations for college admissions because they add to the well-roundedness of the student body. If these attributes can be considered relevant to admissions, why not race?

Of course, there is nothing inherently edifying about attending school with people who have different physical attributes. Introducing more redheads into a student population would bring about no discernible benefit. But, in this country, having a different skin color means having a different life experience. Bringing that difference into the mix at our universities can greatly enhance the quality of the dialogue that goes on there.

On the larger stage, our society is enriched by the many different backgrounds and traditions of its members. For example, as a woman, I know I benefit from the increasing numbers of female health practitioners, who have brought women's health issues such as breast cancer to the fore-front of national consciousness. It does not surprise or even anger me that male doctors did not pursue these issues more forcefully — they lie outside menÕs personal experience — but I do want my experience to be represented.

Similarly, I have to confront the needs and perspectives of other members of my community, which I might ignore, however unwittingly, were they not represented in our universities and in the larger public discussion.

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a 3 1/2 hour standardized test that is comprised of practicing comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning questions. The purpose of the LSAT is to show law schools that applicants possesses skills in each of the areas that are essential to a student’s success in law school.

The LSAT is an integral part of the law school admission process and is required on all applications. The test is administered four times each year through LSAC at designated testing centers.

Divided into five 35-minute sections of multiple-choice questions, the LSAT focuses on five specific sections that have been allocated accordingly, (1) practicing Comprehension Section
(2) Analytical Reasoning Section 
(3) Two Logical Reasoning Sections

In addition to these four sections is an unscored fifth section that would complete the multiple-choice questions. The unscored section, also known as the variable section, typically is used to pretest new test questions or prepare new test forms. This section of the test will not be disclosed until you receive your results. The placement of each section throughout the test will be spastic and vary based on the test. Furthermore, a 35-minute, unscored writing trial is administered at the end of the test. The unscored writing trial is sent to each law school as part of the application.

The LSAC describes the design of the LSAT to be, “to measure skills that are considered essential for success in law school: the practicing and comprehension of complex texts with accuracy and insight; the organization and management of information and the ability to draw reasonable inferences from it; the ability to think critically; and the analysis and evaluation of the reasoning and arguments of others.”

All students should only take the LSAT once they feel fully prepared.

The test is administered four times a year leaving flexibility for students who do not feel fully prepared. Students who have selected a test date should begin preparing at minimum 3 – 6 months prior to the test date.

Students are able to access free LSAT preparation materials through CamelLink and LSAC.org. These preparation materials include trial questions with explanations, test preparation videos, the ability to familiarize yourself with test instructions and question types, and practice tests. The use of these materials is highly encouraged.

Connecticut College is test-optional.

We don’t require applicants to submit standardized test scores because we think there are better ways to determine if you’ll be successful at Conn. And we want you to highlight your strengths in the application process, not write about a random syllabu we've assigned. We believe your high school transcript, essay, recommendations or other application materials may show your strengths better than test scores.

How to decide whether to submit your test scores

Our advice is to submit your scores if you feel they are representative of your achievement and will enhance your application. (Review the middle 50% range of scores submitted for the Class of 2024.) However, if you feel your standardized test scores do not reflect your full potential and elect not to submit them, you will not be at a disadvantage in the admission process.

In the Common App, simply choose which one testing score option you'd like us to consider:

• No tests
• SAT Reasoning Test (essay is not required)
• ACT (writing component is not required)

If you want to submit your test scores

If you would like us to consider your tests scores as part of your application, note that we accept both official and self-reported test scores.

Official test scores can be submitted in any of the following ways:

• Directly from the testing agency (SAT and ACT).
• By your high school counselor via email (admission@conncoll.edu) or fax (860-439-4301).
• By your high school counselor via official transcript.

Self-reported test scores can be submitted in either of the following ways:

• Enter scores in the testing section of the Common Application.
• Submit screenshots or scanned copies of score reports via email (admission@conncoll.edu) or fax (860-439-4301).

If you submit self-reported scores, please note that your official test scores will be required upon enrollment. Any discrepancies from self-reported test scores may result in rescinding our offer of admission.

We “superscore” the SAT Reasoning Test and use the combined highest composite score from the ACT. You should send scores from every SAT/ACT date for which you received your best scores in specific sections.

Scores from standardized tests taken through November typically arrive in time for Early Decision I consideration. Tests taken in December will arrive in time for Early Decision II and Regular Decision applicants.

Transfer Testing

Standardized test scores are not considered in the transfer application process.

English Proficiency Requirement

Conn's standardized testing policy does not apply to testing for purposes of demonstrating English proficiency. Students whose first language is not English must submit the TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo or PTE.