I’m a current Junior as an international student. And I felt the college admissions for 2021 were very abnormal but usual at the same time. (I’m saying this for international applicants not domestic) From my insight, I believe standard test scores such as AP, SAT, and SAT 2 were more valuable than ever before. Although all the colleges made SAT optionally and I know some who made it into great colleges without the SAT. However, I think standard testing this year played a substantial role in terms of college acceptances because it was “optional”.
As many of you already know, the number of applicants in almost every top university doubled partly because standard tests were not required. As a result, the acceptance rate has decreased, but it is the same as before considering that the number of applicants doubled. And from my perspective people who had 1500+ SAT had a crushing advantage over those who had less or didn’t have a score.
I’ve seen far better results than last year among those who have better-standardized testing scores. I guess it was because it was the college’s only option to see the applicant’s academic skills or some whatever reason, I think standardized tests were more important than ever to those who are applying to top universities.
I’m not a college counselor or anything; just a student. But I was wondering if my assumptions were true among international applicants at least.