One of my kids is a good not great test taker. She has several reach colleges on her to explore list at present that are test optional. Her GPA is a respectable 4.3. She is taking a full course of APs. Let’s assume, for the moment, that her ECs, letters of recommendation, class rank, rigor, essays etc… all make her a viable candidate for such colleges. Everything apart from an SAT score that hits the 75th/25th percentile range at such schools. She is also first generation.
What are people’s opinions on the likes of Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Middlebury that say they are test optional, are they really?
I realize this question has been asked many times before on here but I am interested in your current thoughts on this matter.
As a first step, I think you should consider test-optional schools such as Wesleyan and Bowdoin differently from test-flexible schools such as Middlebury.
I trust that Bowdoin and Wesleyan walk the walk and talk the talk regarding their test optional policies. Bowdoin has been TO for 50 years and states that anywhere from 25%-33% of applicants each year do not submit test scores.
Of course, we don’t know whether applicants who don’t submit tests are accepted at the same rate as those who do, but I believe that these two schools can identify applicants likely to succeed whether they have test scores or not.
Middlebury isn’t test optional–they are test flexible and require an SAT or ACT or 3 SAT subject tests.
Lastly, IMO there are TO schools that have the unstated preference for relatively affluent students to submit test scores, but I would not put Bowdoin and Wesleyan in that category.
Presumably, this is a weighted GPA with an unspecified weighting system. Most people here cannot know if it is a 4.0 unweighted GPA with a “light” weighting system, or a 3.3 unweighted GPA with a “heavy” weighting system. But that makes a big difference in what colleges may be realistic for admission (test optional or not).
I’d ask as well whether your daughter could produce a combination of impressive AP or SAT Subject Test results that might satisfy the requirements for some test-flexible colleges or enhance her application if submitted to test-optional colleges.
One of my kids applied to a smattering of schools without sending in his test scores. The Fairtest ones all accepted him. Holy Cross, Dickinson, Fairfield, Gettysburg. They had no inkling of his scores. He had a good list of AP courses, and a 3.5 unweighted average. No idea what the weighted was. No hooks.
His SAT did not break 1100. Don’t remember ACT but was about equivalent acc to charts. He also was accepted toUDel, PennStste, Pitt, DUquesne, SUNY Buffalo, Fordham, Iona. UMD-CP accepted him as a spring semester start, as did Northeastern if he started abroad for the first year.
However, none of the schools other than DUquesne , Fairfield and Iona offered him any merit money.
Middlebury - 15.6% of female applicants admitted
Wesleyan - 15.2% of female applicants admitted
Bowdoin - 9.3% of female applicants admitted
Wesleyan “considers” test scores. Test scores are “important” at Bowdoin and Middlebury.
Highly selective colleges such as these may not ding your application for not submitting test scores (or submitting alternative forms of assessment), but submitting good test scores will only help, especially as the admit rates at top colleges spiral ever downward.
I think that is from their CDSs? It seems somewhat at odds with what they say on their websites. Wesleyan especially.
I don’t know how the GPA system works. She is taking the same course load as her older sister did with an identical GPA. Her older sister had a higher SAT score, told a similar story otherwise, and was admitted to several top ranked colleges.
i think the AP exams pose the same problem to her as the SAT.
The SAT is 610 Math 700 CR, I should probably of mentioned.
Wesleyan Bowdoin and Middlebury do not offer merit awards.
Straight from the horse’s mouth, the horse being a DOA at a test-optional NESCAC. “We won’t hold it against you if don’t submit scores but if you do submit we have no option but to consider them.”
I think that’s what Bowdoin’s “important” means. Not “most important” in that you don’t have to submit them. Not “considered” or “not considered” in that if you do submit them they’ll take them seriously. Bates lists test scores as “considered.”
I do know that Bates and Bowdoin have been admitting kids TO for over 30 years, long before US News was ranking schools. They’re serious about not requiring scores. I can’t speak to Wesleyan and Middlebury, but I have no reason to doubt their word on their test optional and test flexible policies.
You will see that the more competitive TO schools have high average scores. That’s both because the kids who do submit need high scores and because higher test scores tend to correlate with high GPAs, awards and other elements of the application, even among kids who don’t submit. IOW, it’s rare to find a kid with a 4.6 W and a 1200 SAT, although it does happen.
Based on her posted results, your daughter doesn’t really indicate weak standardized testing in general, but, rather, relatively weak quantitative testing. Her EBRW score for that matter would place her above the inferred average for that section at a school such as Bowdoin. By thinking of her profile in this way, she can perhaps gain a little confidence while also arranging how to best present herself to appropriate colleges of interest.
@Jon234 My D20 is in a similar situation and I too have noticed the discrepancy between scores listed on school websites and scores on the CDS. I don’t know the reason for that.
Maybe your D could try the ACT? Mine did significantly better on ACT than SAT. Her ACT score was pretty high on English and reading (34 and 33), but math, especially, was low. But because math is only a quarter of the composite score on ACT, versus half the score on SAT, her composite was higher overall than SAT. She also likes the test style better.
I’ve always felt that the TO policy is mostly a marketing tool to benefit the colleges.
It allows them to exclude, from published averages, the low scores of students they probably would have admitted anyway.
LOL @Jon234, it was at Bates, many years ago now. I know that if an applicant chose not to submit the scores were electronically blacked out on the copy of the application the admissions officers saw. I don’t think this is unique to Bates. https://www.bates.edu/admission/optional-testing/
Or maybe it allows them to consider kids like the OP’s-bright, talented students who would do well at the school without being biased by low(er) scores.
Another test optional NESCAC school is Trinity College. Their admissions believes they have enough indicators to assemble admission offers to academically qualified candidates without standardized test scores.
Here is the thing: if the schools have the scores, I think they have to report them on CD and other reports. Low scoring kids like mine, bring down the averages. Without the scores, it’s a zero effect. And they get a full pay kid who has good grades from a strong school taking rigorous courses. For schools that are not super selective, that is a nice catch. They likely can surmise that kid isn’t going to be applying to Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan. Alot of the stuff isn’t policy but things that can run across an AO’s mind when reviewing apps.
@tk21769 , I doubt they would have admitted my kid with the scores. Too low with no hook to mitigate them. Two of his close friends and cousins were not accepted to some of those school with better numbers.