"Cornell, Dartmouth,Columbia, and UPenn suspended their standardized testing requirements for students applying in the 2020-21 school year.
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of numerous SAT administrations across the United States." …
Clickbait. Removing test requirements isn’t lowering standards.
Yale announced they are also test-optional for those applying for Fall 2021.
One could make a reasonable argument that removing the test requirements is actually raising standards. Those tests are more of a concentration and time management challenge than a true test of intellect. Further, a one day test pales in comparison to one’s GPA (IMHO) which is a long term, more in depth indicator of intellect.
Now the colleges won’t be tempted to be wowed by high scores, if they ever were. They will be focusing on the rest of the application where the real meat is.
This is an honest question. If a lot of HS practice grade inflation, and there are no standardized tests including APs, other than kids who win science and other competitions, how can college admissions tell who is a strong student?
@melvin123: “how can college admissions tell who is a strong student?”
Well, that’s if they care for undergrad.
As faculty are involved in admissions only in some instances at elite American colleges, I think that assumption should be challenged.
A “more fair” (or at least more academically-focused) method would be the UK way (very grad-school-like in that you apply to study only certain (a) subject(s), faculty make the admissions decisions, and how well you do on A-Levels, which tend to cover more in depth than AP tests, are a key factor).
On the other hand, elite American colleges collect a ton more in donations and fundraising than their British or other European counterparts. Make of that what you will.
At some schools (especially those that admit by major/school), faculty are more involved in transfer admissions.
BTW, there is both grade inflation and a wide disparity in grading standards across this country.
There are schools in the US where students can get an A in an AP class but score a 1 on the actual AP test.
Adcoms know which HSs in their region are rigorous and which have grade inflation.
I think when schools go test optional it’s harder for students to be accepted from a HS where no one has ever been admitted.
Certainly works well for the kids who test poorly. Then again, I’ve never understood how someone can get high grades at a high school where they obviously take tests and yet do poorly in a national test.
IF grade inflation and fixing of poor grades (by allowing additional work/tests) to be done wasn’t a factor, I’d have no issue. As it is, there are too many high schools where the average grade for a high achieving student is A ( or higher). LOL.
They presumably care to have some portion of students be academically elite, but this does not necessarily hold true for all or even a majority of the class, where reasonably strong students who can pay list price, play on sports teams, be demographically marketable to future students and donors, and bring donations or become donors themselves later are also highly desirable from the elite private colleges’ point of view.
@melvin123 I think that it is going to be a bigger issue at schools like state flagships. I think that the application for the University of Alabama wasn’t much more than demographic info, a transcript and test scores.
@Eeyore123, I don’t see why it would be an issue for most flagships. Many publics are only a step above open admissions. Then the more rigorous programs within them weed out or have selective admissions.
LOL my son has a friend who got an F in APUSH (didn’t do any of the homework) but got a 5 on the exam. College applicants are like a box of chocolates…
Test optional isn’t the same as test blind. My prediction is that most of the strongest students will still submit test scores to “test optional” colleges along with their applications.
The problem with grade inflation and differing standards (between schools and even between teachers in the same school) is that it takes away a valuable common denominator tool to differentiate one “4.0” from another. TO is not as big of an issue as TB, but as I have posted elsewhere, when greater emphasis/weight is put on subjective measures like EC’s and essays, it makes the process more opaque and IMO more easily exploited by the affluent.
Absolutely. Its crazy to me that we now have ZERO standards we can measure across the country. This is a gift to the grade inflating high schools.
Colleges should subject test requirements. Pick 2 or 3 subjects (slightly similar to British system).
So my S21 (luckily) snagged a high score in Feb which he will be submitting to schools, many of which are now TO. His odds won’t be going down, I hope? I’m assuming, no, but clearly he will be working very hard on his essays.
@suzyQ7 The thing is that the SAT/ACT wasn’t a fair standard to begin with. There have been multiple studies on how income affects your test score, and the SAT began as a way to disadvantage students of color. This was part of the UC system’s reasoning in getting rid of test requirements.
Also, it looks like most people on this thread are forgetting that colleges recalculate GPA. So yes, a student can have a 5.9 GPA, a college can recalculate that down to a 4.3 depending on the criteria used. Also, counselors have to provide a school profile which breaks down the grading systems used.
The purpose of test optional is not to disadvantage high-scoring students. It’s to make it a level playing field. Not all smart students do well on standardized tests. And many students don’t have the resources or money to get a tutor or take the test multiple times. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the option to apply to ivies like someone who can afford those resources can. A lot of students get into good schools on superscored tests or with the help of tutors, the point of TO is to give those who don’t have those resources a way to show that they are more than just a number.
@123Mom123 The way one admissions officer explained TO to me was that submitting a test score is like submitting an art portfolio. If you have it, great! They’ll look at it and see if it helps or hurts you. If you don’t submit one, no problem! They won’t care that you didn’t. So if your son has a good test score, go ahead and submit it! It’s just another plus on his application.
Have flagships (outside of CA) gone TO? Purdue trustees voted down going TO.
@123Mom123 unfortunately the numbers will not benefit your son. Who knows if it will lower his odds.
They are very low to begin with at all selective schools.
The students with high grades, high scores and solid ecs are a smaller cohort than if any of these factors are removed.
High grades. Solid ecs. That’s a much larger group.
Recommendations and essays are going to be really important.
The high score won’t hurt. The number of applicants in the considered pile will be much larger is all.