Advice needed for a rising 11th grader during 2022 Summer

Parents Forum
84

Here’s the cleanest UMD data link:

Here’s another:

Slightly different, but no, some admits did not apply test-optional or with the ACT. Most did. SAT scores are up everywhere and the College Board has not recentered the SAT. It follows that test-optional has inflated SAT statistics at every college. What happens is a snowball effect:

  1. higher scorers (higher meaning in comparison to school median) mostly submit scores
  2. lower scorers (lower than median) & non-takers mostly don’t submit scores
  3. everyone applies to more colleges, in general, since TO increases process ambiguity
  4. more spots go to lower scorers (who didn’t submit), making the remaining spots for “high scorers” – of which there’s now a larger pool of applicants – that much more competitive.

In short, comparing 2022 and 2020, it’s probably harder for someone who scores a 1400 on the SAT to get into UMD but it’s probably easier for someone who scores (and eats) a 1300 but is otherwise great in all other areas. Extend this same argument to a 1550 vs. a 1450 at the Ivies or whatever elite school of choice the OPs rising 11th grader hopes to attend. Again, I’m just describing the change, not saying one way or the other is better.

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85

And for the umpteenth time I have to point out that at least one of those colleges (Wesleyan) requires all accepted students to submit their scores - if they sat for a test - before matriculating. This is regardless of whether they chose to be TO at the time they applied.

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86

I don’t think you really got what I was saying. That’s OK. Your data points include extrapolated conclusions and don’t particularly correlate. You just can’t assume that TO inflates scores. What a TO applicant brings to the table may not be measured in metrics yet. Full disclosure, my kid is not TO.

No need to respond further. We don’t see eye to eye on this, and it is diverging from the purpose of the thread.

87

Nowhere on their page does it say that. They also state this:

59% of admits asked to have test scores considered in the admission process

So not sure what you are getting at - they have a boatload of kids asking not to have kids use their score in the admission decision. It’s neither good nor bad - it’s simply a fact they provide. The point is - that when you show, like Wesleyan, a 33-35 middle 50%, if 100% instead of 59% asked to have their tests considered, their range would surely be lower. No reason to jump down my throat - I’m simply saying that even have “elite” schools there is some “wiggle” in the #s.

Standardized Testing, Wesleyan University - Wesleyan University

Class Profile, Wesleyan University - Wesleyan University

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That’s because you’ve paid no attention to the other twelve replies I’ve made to your posts over the past year:

Standardized Test Scores for Non-Submitters (First-Year Students ONLY)

Standardized test results are used for academic counseling and placement, as well as for institutional research.

What You Need to Know:

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89

But those are not “included” in the admitted student statistics - that’s the point.

The scores that those submit are what is the 33/35 - so if someone has a 20 and submits it, it’s not showing up.

We are talking about admissions here - and that many elite schools with high #s likely wouldn’t be that high if there was no such thing as a test optional.

In other words, comparing Wes to Florida…or even Gtown (which does require submission of tests for those who take) - is apples to oranges.

My point stands - that TO in part distorts the standardized test story.

Let’s move on.

I see your point. I hope you do, but you may not see mine.

The only thing I’m staying is - 41% of Wes students scores are not included in their published #s. Nothing else.

90

You’re making the very common (no pun intended) mistake of equating the admitted students profile with the actual first-year class. Less than 40% of last year’s admitted students wound up at Wesleyan and that’s typical of many top LACs.

Your original comment was about the colleges’ common data sets. Admitted student statistics have nothing to do with the common data set, or the first-year class that enters in the fall. You have to examine each school’s policies regarding when or if they require scores from TO applicants who subsequently wind up as freshmen. That’s the point. This is not the first time you and I have walked through this and for reasons I don’t quite understand we persist in talking over each other.

Wow. That’s exactly the opposite of what I just explained to you.

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91

I will assume that the both @circuitrider and @tsbna44 are done talking over each other. I will further assume that all future responses on this thread will target the OP’s questions and not become sidebar conversations with other users.

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