Navigating the Chaos in Test-Optional Admissions
Last Updated on May 21, 2024 by Jill Schwitzgebel
In recent weeks, many Ivy league colleges have announced they are reinstating the ACT or SAT requirement for admission consideration. They join MIT, who announced last year that they were bringing back test scores for admission consideration. In some ways, it might seem like these two announcements, from Dartmouth and then Yale, just cause even more confusion about test-optional admission.
I am far from being a college entrance exam advocate. And, I confess to being a bit glad to see the vast majority of colleges become test-optional when the pandemic began in 2020. Plenty of colleges had already gone test-optional prior to 2020, and had proven that they did not need test scores to predict students’ academic success in college. But, those colleges had already had taken the time to hone their admissions process, minus test scores. In a test-optional admission process, the premise is that ACT or SAT scores can only enhance the application, and will not hurt a student’s application. I’m not sure that all of the colleges that were suddenly forced (by the pandemic) to become test optional thoughtfully changed their admission processes to a true test-optional format when suddenly forced to back in 2020.
I will also go on the record to say that I’m not convinced by many of the excuses that the colleges reinstating the score requirement are using. And there are people out there with impressive data that support my skepticism. Applications increased by up to 30% at many of the Ivies and other highly competitive colleges after they became test-optional. That kind of increase means more admissions staff were required to screen all of those applications. So what would be a good way to reduce personnel to save money? Cut down on the number of applications. And what would help them do that? Require students to take the tests and submit their scores. Hmmmm…
The Data
Update on 3/12/24: Since initial writing, Brown and Harvard have reinstated a testing requirement, and maybe in bigger news, so has the University of Texas at Austin. Unlike what we have seen from some other colleges, UT has done their homework and provided data – they have documented that students that submitted test scores attained a GPA that was .86 higher during their first semester of college, controlling for class rank and high school GPA, but not socioeconomic status or parental educational attainment (these are things we know make a big difference in students’ test performance). The median SAT of those who asked not to have their score considered for admission was nearly 300 points lower than those who wanted them considered (1160 vs 1420), which is a large difference. They also note that they had 73,000 applications to screen for the class of 2024. Again, a test score requirement makes it easy to screen applicants.
Clarity
But, I mentioned above that I think the return to test score requirements actually brings some clarity to the application process and you may be wondering why that is. Here’s why: Since becoming test-optional many (most) of those same highly selective colleges have been happy to share how many applicants submitted test scores with applications and how many did not. But, what they have not shared, is how many students who did not submit their scores were admitted. Hmmm again… This has left students (and counselors) wondering whether maybe it truly is in their students’ best interests to submit them. Anecdotally, from reading accounts and talking to other counselors, it has begun to seem that students who submitted them to these most competitive schools are more likely to be admitted. Correlation is not causation though, which has left room for doubt. Truthfully, some colleges’ reinstatement of the score requirement eliminates any doubt and makes my job easier.
At the same time, if a college has doubled down on remaining test-optional, it gives me more confidence that they have put the time into revising their admissions process and are committed to giving applicants without test scores equal consideration. It has not eliminated all doubt just yet and I’ll be watching to see if other colleges use these reinstatements as an excuse to reinstate their own requirements. The University of Michigan, who saw record applications from the class of 2024, formally announced that they will now be officially test-optional.
The first round of students to apply to some of the most highly ranked colleges as test-optional applicants are now college juniors. We still don’t have all the data yet on whether those applicants have gone on to be as academically successful as those who did submit scores. (Incidentally, this is partially why Yale’s claim that scores are the best predictors of academic success doesn’t ring true.)
Related Articles:
To Take Or Not to Take The College Entrance Exams?
What Does It Take to Get Into an Ivy League College?
