Nothing about this application season is ideal! But I think colleges know that and it might be risky to insinuate you had no chance for a test when you really had several sittings of both the ACT and SAT.
So why risk that when colleges already know the situation is not optimal. You just don’t want to get caught up in anything that can question integrity. Not saying that is what you are trying to do, but it could come across that way.
Although four SAT test dates were cancelled, the fifth was not.
How do others recommend handling this for the schools at which OP’s daughter will be applying test optional (not submitting her scores). Is this deceitful or okay ?
P.S. I ask for several reasons, but mostly out of concern for guidance counselor comments that might mention SAT test score.
I agree with the above. If the facts were different and she truly was not able to take any test, be it ACT or SAT, because of CV-19 than I would absolutely state that on the additional information section, otherwise I wouldn’t bring it to their attention. Let the rest of the strong application speak for itself.
I like the college list!
Regarding visits to SCU and LMU and rain, the rainiest months are December to March but neither location get s a ton of rain (annual totals are about 12 - 14 inches).
All schools, with the exception of Georgetown, are allowing students who have been able to take a test, or tests, to apply Test Optional. Of course, 1/3 of 4 year colleges still are not test optional.
I really don’t understand the issue…there is nothing deceitful about taking a test and choosing to apply TO, just like when applying in year’s past to the many TO schools that existed pre-pandemic.
It is entirely appropriate to state that you signed up for a number of tests that you were not able to take.
@Publisher our GC already sent her letter and she would never mention D’s options for standardized testing.
I don’t think it’s deceitful at all to mention four cancellations. It’s truth. These fall sittings aren’t normal either. She would not go on and on about this. The AO will see no score and then one sentence saying she had four test sittings cancelled. Even though she did sit for some ACTs and some fall SATs, that doesn’t mean that her testing wasn’t thrown off. She put in hours and hours of studying in Jan and Feb and was hitting strong scores maybe at 75th percentile for all of her schools but Vanderbilt. By letting schools know she had all of the cancellations, they ar least will know she was prepping for multiple tests and that in itself becomes stressful and could explain why she doesn’t submit a score even if they know her school hosted one fall test.
@homerdog thanks for the insight on UDayton. My son is pretty conservative (unlike my D20) and Catholic so that actually sounds like a fit for him.
For what it’s worth my D20 visited Denison and SCU and didn’t apply to either. Denison was too hilly (should add that to the silly reasons thread) but I really liked it. She did an overnight with a friend’s brother at SCU. She had an awesome time and I thought she would apply but after further reflection she realized she just wouldn’t fit there. They went shopping in SF and she said the girls they went with were picking out $500 handbags. Talked about going to Hawaii for spring break as if they were going to the mall. We live in a pretty affluent town but it was just a bit of a culture shock for her. Her best friend ended up going there sight unseen but is on-line from the Northeast so no real idea If she likes it or not as she hasn’t really even met any fellow students in person yet.
Daughter did apply to LMU at the last minute sight unseen and with absolutely no demonstrated interest and got accepted with merit. Your daughter’s stats are higher than hers so I would think that would be a safety for her. She ended up at Elon and absolutely loves it. She is definitely not the stereotypical preppy student there but she has definitely met her people. There really are all types of kids there. I know you did mention it was not a fit for your D though.
@MAmom111 thanks for that feedback. We know one student at Santa Clara and would definitely check in with him to learn more about the vibe. Also, D went to an info session with SCU students from the Midwest and they seemed pretty down to earth. I’m sure there have to be a mix of kids there but, of course, there’s the wealthy crowd as well. Still, I’m glad to get your feedback and D should be on the look out for that. Will be hard to get a grip on vibe this spring with Covid. It will be an issue for a lot of seniors.
I/we have the benefit of Naviance and it’s pretty amazing how the # of applications, acceptances and enrolled remain fairly constant with the bulk of the pubic and private colleges from our SF Bay Area location. Colleges seem to take almost the same amount of kids each, so I’m just speculating that the schools must pick and choose (i.e., compare) from the selection at our school.
I’m just trying to wrap my head around mentioning the canceled tests, if D21 receives a lower score and we elect to not submit a score.
BTW, SCU has some type of virtual session for seniors at our school today. D is attending.
D has been to multiple SCU sessions this week!
As for TO, I would not assume that most kids in your school will be sending tests. They are all in the same boat when it comes to testing.
The way were are looking at Naviance without a score is to just look at GPA. For D, most of her schools have not declined someone with her GPA no matter their test score so that seems like a positive sign to us. Of course, those scores are higher than what she’s posting but colleges are TO and so they will look at what she gives them. She’s giving them the GPA that is high enough from our school plus strong ECs and essays and recs. Fingers crossed! She doesn’t need all acceptances of course. Just a few good options and she likes her whole list.
@MAmom111 , funny…we live kind of near Denison (in Columbus) and “too hilly” is so crazy when you think about the flatness of central Ohio. Anyway, I have a D17 at LMU and a S19 at Elon! I guess, now that I think of it, Denison does have more “hills” than Elon LOL! And did she know that LMU is bordered on one side by a cliff!!! LOL
@homerdog I’m so sorry that visits are not an option. I agree with your decision on walking around Wake not being of any real benefit. LMU emailed last week that they will be sending out an email on Monday 10/19 about decisions for Spring, but included in that was the info that LA County has stated they will not make announcements on college openings until after Thanksgiving. So…hm. Does that mean that the only decision that can be coming is that they are all online for spring? I surely hope not. I’ll let you know as we hear any real plans. My D is not hopeful for being on campus in spring :(…her last semester.
@Mwfan1921 : Understand why you do not see the issue as it was restated by you as you left out the crucial fact.
I see no advantage whatsoever in mentioning that an applicant had four scheduled tests cancelled. Only relevant if asked or if seeking an exemption from standardized test reporting requirement.
P.S. In the current environment, schools may assume that fact while test optional schools should not care whether or not an applicant had cancelled sittings.
P.P.S. Stating that one had four sittings cancelled implies that one has no SAT score. If a school is test optional, then no need to write an excuse for not having a test score.
Correction: If a school is test optional, then no need to write an excuse for not submitting a test score.
@Publisher I don’t think it’s an excuse. Just some “additional information”. I also don’t think it implies she had no sittings at all. She had a fairly stressful testing year and that’s all we are trying to get across. Anyone who has followed her testing knows this.
We thought ACT was a better test for her back in June 2019 when she took pre-tests of both tests. She studied all summer. And then was really sick on the day of the Aug ACT and couldn’t go. Bring on a slew of AP classes, football season and yearbook and she didn’t have much time to keep looking at ACT and tested in Oct to eh scores. Retook in Dec and did better but not great. And then we got her PSAT back and it was way better than her ACT score so she pivoted. Studied Jan and Feb and was hitting low-mid 1400s by end and then March, April, and June tests were cancelled. She didn’t study over summer because her high school said they’d be online and we didn’t think there’d be a test. Then her Aug test was cancelled and we just decided to go TO but THEN the state of Illinois decided that seniors in Illinois actually DO have to take a test for graduation and she had three weeks until that test. In her head, she was so done with all of this. She did take one practice test, got a 1480 and thought she was fine to just go ahead. She’s slammed with homework and yearbook now anyway. I’m sure she tried her best and she did hit a math score close to her best but EW just didn’t go her way on these tests. She’s never been a great multiple choice test taker and all of this is wearing on her.
That’s her whole testing story and it was a giant cluster with HOURS of studying and frustration every time a test was cancelled. That she couldn’t get a total score she could feasibly use in the end isn’t surprising to me. She’s burned out of thinking about testing and over it. I can also say that I told her in Aug that she’s good to go TO so, for her to turn on a dime and try to care about these tests when high school life is so depressing right now, wasn’t exactly easy.
It is what it is. I really think there’s a silver lining in here somewhere. Maybe she’ll get in somewhere she would not have if it was a regular year and she had no choice but to present scores. None of her teachers think her scores define who she is as a student. She holds up with all of the 1500+ kids in her classes. And most of the kids we know who got scores like that were totally tutored up anyway.
I hope you’ll wish her well. 
Of course I hope for the best for your daughter, otherwise I would not be offering this cautionary advice.
As long as you & your daughter see the issue, then it is just a personal decision.
@TS0104 Good to know about LA county and the decision after Thanksgiving. LMU’s hands will just be tied if the county makes the same decision for winter and springtime. I don’t know what the cases are like out there but they aren’t good across the country so it’s hard to believe that things will change in LA. If they cannot host students for admitted student days somehow, that’s going to affect their yield I would think. Maybe the class will be a larger percent of CA kids. I hope your D gets to go back to school!
@homerdog Don’t discount her score just because she didn’t hit her 1480 target. 1480 is pretty rarified air and for a lot of schools on her list quite above the avg. Now I get if you are shooting for a 1480 and get a 1400 you may feel disappointed, but that’s still a very strong score and correlates roughly to 95th percentile! For example, in our region, 1400 is definitely a good score for Richmond. I would also look carefully at the ranges for admitted vs enrolled students for guidance.
@wisteria100 her superscore is just a bit below 1400 and, except for her four safeties, her other schools have a midpoints between 1400 and 1420. The lowest she would send is a score at the 50th percentile for each school and she’s not quite there. I just don’t think being at a school’s 40th or 45th percentile boosts her chances and it certainly looks “lesser” than the rest of her app. I don’t think it’s worth sending just to show she has a score and didn’t complete bomb.
@wisteria100 also admitted versus enrolled is hard to find but I did find it for Richmond and it’s super confusing. Admitted middle is 1370-1490 and enrolled is 1300-1450. So a whole lot of kids below the 25th percentile for admitted actually enrolled. I’m worried about just going with the enrolled numbers where she would indeed be over the 50th percentile. Right now, she’s a candidate trying to be admitted. So I would think looking at the admitted range is the right range to consider.
Agree - the admitted vs enrolled is tricky because you are trying to get admitted first! And I’m sure it varies by school and their strategy and their yield calculations. Some schools may want to admit a bunch of high scorers even if they think they are not likely to enroll, because they will take a chance that they will get some. Other schools have less of an appetite for admitting kids they think are using it as a backup. Since Wake and Bates have been T.O. for so long, no need to send. I wouldn’t send anything less than 1400 to BC (our school sends a ton of apps there). Richmond I would be tempted. But maybe if she gets deferred there EA, there could be some intelligence gained from who they did take ED/EA and she could always send in Jan if needed.
Very tricky year. You just don’t know if TO is going to send apps through the roof, or if this pandemic means less apps for a myriad of reasons. And I did see a headline that this testing season both ACT and SAT avg scores have declined. No surprise there as kids have been out of school and skills get rusty.
Fwiw, as I read your concern about disclosing canceled tests, my gut reaction was no. At the very least, it comes off as an excuse for either not having a score or having a low one. There’s an arrangement for that, and you are using it. TO. Every kid has had to endure covid setbacks. I’d really worry that this could be read as whiny. And really, that doesn’t sound like the girl you’ve described as your D.
She could also come off as sounding obsessed with testing (and we know those kids exist), and again, that seems at odds with her. And if they know her school and know she took it, it’s kinda like “You prepared 5 times so why didn’t you do well?” There’s just too good a possibility someone will choose to look at this in this in a context that doesn’t benefit her.
There’s little upside and plenty of downside. She sounds like her academic record and ECs will be compelling as is, especially having really sought out fit. I’d be surprised it that doesn’t come through.