Purdue to require test scores again starting with class of 2024

Applying to College
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Purdue announced today they will require tests again, starting next year with the HS Class of 2024. Purdue has characterized itself as test flexible the last few years, meaning they preferred applicants take and report test scores:

*For Spring, Summer, and Fall 2023, Purdue is test flexible. This means that if a student can take an SAT or ACT, we prefer they do so. However, we recognize that possible cancellations and postponement of national standardized tests due to pandemic restrictions may be impacting students’ applications. With that in mind, we will move forward and review any application from a student who is unable to take a standardized test.

Here’s today’s press release:

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University announced Tuesday (Nov. 29) that it will resume requiring SAT and/or ACT test scores for admissions applications, beginning with students who apply for Fall 2024 admission to Purdue. The resumption was recommended by university administration and endorsed by the board of trustees.

Purdue is making the announcement now so that current high school juniors can register for and schedule their exams and submit the test results with their applications. Purdue will begin accepting 2024 applications on Aug. 1, 2023.

Purdue has been “test flexible” since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented many students from having access to a testing site. For the last two years, Purdue has recommended but not required the test scores, and nearly three-fourths of applicants have provided them. Purdue accepts SAT or ACT scores and has no preference on which test is taken. Students may report the best scores from across different tests on their admissions application.

“The evidence is clear that test scores provide essential information in a comprehensive admissions evaluation that enables us to ensure the optimal chance of success for each admitted student,” said Kris Wong Davis, Purdue vice provost for enrollment management.

In September 2022, Purdue announced an all-time enrollment record. For Fall 2022, the average new student had a 3.74 GPA, an average SAT total of 1317 and an average ACT composite of 29.8. For Fall 2022, 82.4% of admitted students submitted either an SAT or ACT score.

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I saw this announcement.

It seems like the pattern is the schools with a strong engineering or STEM focus are going back to requiring test scores.

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I’m not surprised by this announcement.

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Except for the UCs, the Cal Polys, Caltech, CMU, Cornell, Colorado School of Mines, Harvey-Mudd, IIT, Northwestern, Rose-Hulman, Stanford, TAMU, UT Austin, UIUC, U Michigan, MSU, OSU, Penn State, Pitt, U Washington, and more.

The decision whether to be TO is not really about the focus of the college. It is more about the politics and attitudes of the state legislature (in public universities), the board of trustees, and the college’s leadership. I don’t mean partisan politics, BTW, it’s not about party affiliation, per se.

A large proportion of the colleges with strong engineering or STEM focus are public, and therefore are more subject to pressures from the outside, like state legislature and public opinion, at least public opinion among the parts of the public with the largest clout.

Private colleges have less such pressure, especially the wealthy a popular ones, and here there seems to be little correlation between the the focus of the college and whether it remains TO. So CMU is still TO, but Georgetown, which is hardly “STEM or engineering focussed”, is no longer TO.

While MIT is no longer TO, all other “big name” private colleges with engineering and STEM focus or which are known for STEM are still TO (as mentioned above, CMU, Caltech, HMC, Cornell, etc).

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TO is a bit of misnomer, what does it really mean? how many are admitted without scores? are particular majors admitting more or less applicants who have no scores? where are the stats for example; UW TO admits to engineering?

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I agree with your post, and it will be interesting to see if IU, and other state unis, go back to requiring tests.

But…in the interest of accuracy, Georgetown was never TO, they merely allowed students who had never taken a test to apply, which was exactly what Purdue was doing (and called it ‘test flexible’).

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Good point.

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Here is the data that Purdue used in 2020 to support their move to test flexible, and not test optional. It’s pretty interesting and generally pro-test, for example citing data showing that HS GPA plus test scores is more predictive of success than HS GPA alone, Purdue’s retention and grad rates are (generally) higher at higher test scores, and their diversity had been growing while tests were required.

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Specific numbers are below. It’s not clear what they are predicting – maybe first year GPA? (edit, I found another report that confirms they are predicting first year GPA)

SAT Alone – Explains 25% of variance
HS GPA Alone – Explains 34% of variance
HS GPA + SAT – Explains 38% of variance

HS GPA + SAT is indeed a better predictor of the unknown criteria they are predicting than HS GPA alone, but the difference is not huge – an additional 4% of variance explained. For test optional, the key question is not whether HS GPA + SAT is better than HS GPA in isolation. More relevant is how much SAT adds beyond the combination of criteria that would be used to admit test optional applicants, which at selective private colleges is usually far more than just looking at HS GPA in isolation.

One contributing factor to why public colleges like Purdue may be more likely to return to test required than private colleges is being more likely to emphasize a simple stat based admission formula, and less likely to emphasize things like rigor of courses, how specific courses/grades fit with planned field of study, LORs, ECs/awards, upward/downward trend, how well strengths/weaknesses fit with planned field of study, etc. The more relevant criteria you consider, the less test scores generally add beyond those criteria.

The report also shows SAT score in isolation is correlated with math grades and retention. However, they do not show how much SAT adds beyond a prediction based on HS GPA or other admission criteria. This makes the conclusions unmeaningful. It sounds like the persons doing the review have a great data set with a large number of Purdue students. It’s a shame that the presentation does not include a more rigorous review, with adequate controls. Perhaps this is the simplistic version made for a short publicity type presentation, and there is more detailed review somewhere else?

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I don’t know of any more detailed review that’s public. Many schools have a lot of test/test optional data that they choose not to publicly share, including Bowdoin and their 50+ years of test vs test optional data, and MIT, who stated earlier this year they have internal data that support the use of tests in the admission process.

Obviously we are in a place where the very best enrollment management professionals in the land disagree as to the utility of standardized tests in the admission process and/or as a factor in predicting college success/retention/grad rates at their institutions. I’m not going to judge their rationale or pick apart their data, because they know better than I.

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Seems entirely consistent with what the uc study found in 2020.

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I agree. I do expect at some schools the faculty supports having a test requirement, and some are agitating for that.

One concern I have is that it’s impossible right now to separate out the effect of covid on math especially…I don’t know all the correct terminology whether learning loss, or foundational gaps, or what have you, but some of what the colleges/profs are seeing right now in math preparation/ability goes beyond some of the students not having test scores. IMO of course.

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Maybe but some schools claim to be tracking TO students separately. If it was just a covid effect, should affect both groups similarly.

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Did the UC study from a couple years ago also conclude greater predictability with SAT and GPA? (and I recall that UC concluded that SAT alone had more predictive power than GPA alone, unlike Purdue).

Have any other schools released such data?

Does anyone know what the “add predictors” are (in the first and second bars of the graph)?

The additional factors explain only marginally more variation than SAT and GPA, and a far bigger boost comes from adding SAT to GPA.

GPA alone: 33.64%
GPA and SAT: 38.44%
GPA, SAT, and “add predictors”: 40.96%

Also, does anyone know what year(s) these data cover? Given the GPA inflation issues discussed later in the presentation (which is especially prevalent at private schools), the predictability of GPA may be declining. (Which is what the UC study noted - the predictive power of GPA was going down).

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Has any school with selective admissions said there was a difference in performance of test submitters vs non-submitters? Every selective college I am aware of that has done a study comparing GPA or grad rate performance between submitters and non-submitters found little difference. An example is the Bates 25 years of test optional study at Optional Testing | Admission | Bates College . Some specific numbers are below:

Test Submitters – 3.16 mean GPA, 89% graduation rate
Non-Submitters – 3.13 mean GPA, 88% graduation rate

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At least for the College of Engineering, rigor, specific courses and grades in those subject are very scrutinized. It can also often be the key to honors college invitation.

I don’t believe the move back to test required has anything to do with simplifying admission decisions.

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The Selingo article mentioned a difference.

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Do you have a link to the article or more information about what specifically was said?

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Seems like Purdue was like MIT in that they still really wanted to see test scores if possible, but did not want to exclude those for whom tests were not available during COVID-19, so going back to test required was not that big a shift in policy.

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