To Test or Not to Test?
I want to thank my colleague Meg Joyce for co-writing this blog post with me.
Test scores and test-optional admissions, which have been in the spotlight for several years now, are getting renewed attention as of late. Many colleges have still not decided if they will become permanently test-optional for admissions. Instead, they are tracking how their test-optional students do once they are on campus, and they will use that data to make a final decision eventually. Others have made big announcements in the last few weeks. This week, Yale announced that they will require testing but that they are flexible on which type of testing, SAT, ACT, AP, or IB exam score. This is a new definition of the testing required and one we would love to see more widely implemented. That said, it is not without its challenges. For example, what if a student has some AP scores they want to disclose but not others? Yale has said if you want to submit AP scores in lieu of SAT or ACT scores they would like to see all of them. They do provide room for a student to provide an explanation of their scores. What if an IB student does not have any official IB scores yet? Yale has said they will not take predicted IB scores. February 5th, Dartmouth has reinstated a requirement for all applicants to have ACT or SAT scores. Both colleges will start their new testing policy with current high school juniors, the university class of 2029.
Yale and Dartmouth both stated their belief, backed up by studies they have done, that scores are more predictive of academic success at college than high school GPA. In the past, Brown has referred to a similar study, so it will be curious to see if they also reinstate testing requiring.
At the same time, other highly selective colleges have announced in recent weeks their intention to stay test optional. Among them are the University of Michigan and Northwestern. Yet both of those colleges according to their common data sets, have about 3/4 of all of their applicants submitting a SAT or ACT score. They also, in our experience, like applicants to have scores unless they fulfill an important institutional priority. For more on institutional priorities and how they affect admissions, please read our past blog post, The Admissions Process is Not Necessarily About You. Duke also came out with an announcement this week that said they will no longer assign a numerical score to standardized test scores, SAT or ACT or students’ essays. Yet 93% of Duke applicants submit standardized testing, and according to Duke, scores and the content of their essays will still be a part of their admissions review.
We have also seen some highly selective colleges that were more open to applicants without scores in the first year or two of COVID have shifted in the most recent admissions cycles, increasingly seeming to favor applicants who submit scores. Last year, for example, 60% of Tufts’ admitted students had submitted scores, compared to 40% who had not. At Boston College, 2/3 of admitted students submitted scores. Some other schools that are admitting disproportionate amounts of test submitters are Colgate, Emory, Davidson, Notre Dame, UVA, Boston University, and Wellesley.
Perhaps not surprisingly, demand for SAT and ACT testing has been rising. It is not back to pre-COVID levels, but it is up 10-20% from previous years. For starters, students have adapted to the new normal. They are booking seats well in advance, sometimes as soon as testing registration opens up online, and they are prepared for last-minute cancellations at testing centers. Students are factoring disruption into their testing plans. But it is more than that. We are moving to a dual world, where often geographic location and the selectivity level of the schools on students’ college lists is driving their testing strategy.
Public universities in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee have started requiring scores (or they never stopped requiring them). Large public flagships continue to see applications soar; it is significantly more difficult to gain admission to many of them without a score, even if tests are not technically required. Some of this has to do with an underlying preference for test scores, and some of it is the practical need to make blunt cuts based on grades, rigor, and test scores so they can process tens of thousands of applications. Notable exceptions to this are the UC and Cal State systems, which are test blind. In general, far fewer students submit test scores to colleges on the West Coast.
Some popular public universities in the Southeast, including Tennessee and Auburn, base their merit aid awards on test scores, often with a matrix that families can view on their websites. Students with these schools on their lists are financially motivated to take the SAT or ACT and to do as well as they can on them. At the Ivy Plus colleges (the Ivies plus University of Chicago, Duke, Stanford, and MIT), approximately 85% of students who apply are submitting very high scores. To see what percentage of students submit scores, check their most recent Common Data Set, which you can usually find easily with a Google search. You can find this information under section C9, but remember this information, like all information from the National Center for Education Statistics, can have a year or sometimes even two year lag.
Currently, MIT, Georgetown, Dartmouth, and now Yale, to some extent, require scores. At these and other most selective colleges, every piece of the application matters. To truly do well on these exams, students have to spend a lot of time preparing. Depending upon the schools on their list and how they have fared on the PSAT or practice tests, it might be better for some students to prioritize their time elsewhere. Certain colleges are more committed to test-optional admission than others; these are typically colleges that have been test-optional for a long time and not just because of the pandemic. Some of our favorite colleges admit the vast majority of students who are not submitting scores.
We have heard admission directors at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Rochester, and the University of Miami state that 80% of test scores are just affirming their decisions, 10% of scores give students a boost, and 10% hurt. In this day and age of grade inflation, our goal is for our students to land in that top 90%, and not the bottom 10%. How does a student know whether to test and whether to submit their scores? Like everything in college admissions, the answer is: it depends.
We advise everyone to take a mock SAT and a mock ACT – using real tests. Set up an appointment with your guidance counselor to discuss the results and how they relate to the colleges you are thinking about applying to. For example, students who are applying to highly selective colleges where the vast majority of applicants submit high scores and to state flagships in the southeast where scores are required should prep and test. Everyone else should seek help evaluating if it is worth the time to prepare and test. Some students do not need to go through the process and emotional stress of testing. Questions these students should be asking:
Is my high school transcript strong on its own?
Will it add undue stress and emotional toll on me to stress? ( We are very cognizant that one in two high school students have experienced some mental health challenges, and student well-being must be our top priority.)
Do I have the time to really prepare? (This is a test that is proven to benefit those students who prepare.)
Do I think I will get to a score that is high enough to be additive to my high school transcript and overall profile? (Many colleges score ranges have increased to very unrealistic numbers for the vast majority of applicants because only those with top scores are submitting them. Keep in mind you only need to be in range; sometimes even a score in the bottom 25% of the score range is additive.)
We would really like you to read The Misguided War on the SAT. This article does a great job exploring what the role of standardized testing could/should be in the college application process, especially in light of grade inflation (according to the Higher Education Research Institute’s Freshman Survey in 2020, 68.10% of first-year students at 4-year universities had an A or A- average in high school, and we have heard that number has climbed to over 80% in 2022) and the desire to enroll diverse classes. We have all heard a lot about unequal SAT scores according to race and class. Is it the tests that are biased, or are the tests reflecting unequal circumstances? If scores are used as one factor among many, they could help identify qualified applicants from a variety of backgrounds, especially when considered in light of access to activities and academic supports.
We believe most schools will remain test-optional, and admissions offices will decide what role scores will play in their admissions processes. Currently, over 80% of colleges are test optional or test blind for SAT or ACT tests. Check out the list here at Fairtest. I make that distinction to say test blind/free for SAT or ACT because many colleges still consider AP or IB scores even when they are test blind. Test scores were at the heart of the Supreme Court case banning race conscious admissions, application volume tends to soar, and colleges can more flexibly fulfill college needs when scores are not required. These are reasons we think many colleges will be cautious about requiring them again. Remember, the majority of colleges accept most applicants, and with thoughtful planning, every student should have several colleges to choose from that they are excited about.
Lastly, at the end of last year, Aly recorded a podcast for Tests and the Rest with Rob Alexander, the Vice Provost and University Dean of Enrollment Management at the University of Rochester. If you are weighing the decision to apply with or without an ACT or SAT score, you might want to listen. What do Truly Test Optional Colleges Focus On?