Removing SAT scores doesn't remove the subjective and complex elements, but it does give a measure that took more than 8 minutes to arrive at. As a previous co

Removing SAT scores doesn't remove the subjective and complex elements, but it does give a measure that took more than 8 minutes to arrive at. As a previous commenter mentioned, UW spends about 8 minutes looking at applications at first. This isn't nearly enough time to make a "holistic" decision, especially when the application is largely subjective. SAT scores, on the other hand, take longer than 8 minutes to arrive at. The subjective evaluations that go into designing the test can be determined over the course of months, leading to a measure that is imperfect but likely better than 8 minutes of a grad student's time. The larger point is that in order for "holistic" admissions to work, you need to design an admissions process that actually evaluates candidates holistically. Removing SAT scores doesn't automatically fix those issues, it just removes one more piece of data to aid the process.