A startup asked for SAT scores, and so, it turns out, does Epic
A blogger hit a job application that wanted SAT scores for a go-to-market role. The number reflects who you were at 17, taken under conditions nobody can verify.
Hiring research now ranks structured interviews and work-sample tests above raw cognitive scores, with unstructured "chats" near the bottom. The likely real motive is fishing for raw, non-AI-assisted intelligence, now that every resume and cover letter has been polished by a chatbot.
A decades-old teenage test score as a hiring signal
A blogger recounts hitting a YC-backed ETL startup's go-to-market application that asked for SAT scores, something they'd never seen professionally. The post argues the score is a poor signal: it captures who you were at 17, was taken under unknowable conditions, is unverifiable, and may be decades old. Surveying hiring research, it notes structured interviews and work-sample tests now outpredict cognitive tests, while unstructured "chats" rank among the worst. The speculation: with resumes and cover letters now AI-polished, the startup is fishing for raw, non-AI-assisted intelligence. It proposes timed exercises, in-person whiteboarding, and proctored assessments instead.
From an anonymous startup to Epic's HR filing cabinet
First, the thread stripped the anonymity.
"Company is Alpha Vantage" — a commenter who named the employer
Then it showed this isn't a startup quirk.
"I just applied to Epic, the EHR company from Wisconsin, and I can confirm that they also ask for SAT scores. Thankfully I have my collegeboard credentials saved" — a recent Epic Systems applicant
One anecdote captured the absurd endgame.
"I had a friend with an MS show up for first-day of work for a job that asked for SAT scores… HR said 'we never got documentation for your SAT scores'… He was on the phone with his mother, having her go through a filing cabinet when he realized he didn't want to work for a company that was this serious about SAT scores…" — a commenter relaying a firsthand account
And the steelman held its ground.
"But SAT scores correlate to IQ at .81, and IQ is one of the few things that strongly correlates to knowledge work performance positively. … It's more useful than knowing the college they went to." — a digital-advertising practitioner
The tension is real: a cheap, legal proxy with genuine predictive value, demanded as paperwork a 30-something is expected to dig out of a parent's filing cabinet. The signal may be sound; the ritual is what makes people walk.
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