I know there are test optional schools out there, but is there any way to find out what percentage of each college’s accepted students got in without submitting scores? I just have this feeling that they say they are test optional, but in reality if you don’t submit they assume you didn’t do well. Thanks in advance
The real reason some schools are test optional is that they often have full pay applicants with lousy scores but decent grades. They want to admit them without the scores counting against them in the US news type of rankings. In other words, it is a way to take full pay mediocre students without looking like it is a school that takes mediocre students.
The above is not true. Please submit some evidence on that one.
@citymama9 Logically, the admit rates are lower but they should be. That does not detract from the usefulness of this option for a set of students.
No college advertises the test optional choice as a free lunch. What happens is that the rest of the application receives greater scrutiny. This is why many applicants fail.
The motivation in post #1 is simply not true.
Studies continue to show that there is no meaningful difference in academic performance by test-non-submitter students at leading LACs that have used test-optional admission policies. In fact the seminal Bates study found a 0.05 difference in GPA among those students who submit and those who did not submit test scores by graduation. Interestingly the more interesting findings of the study are that non-submitters are more likely to major in more esoteric disciplines and also equally interesting whites outnumbered minorities 5-1 choosing to not submit.
Summary is here: http://www.bates.edu/news/2005/10/01/sat-study/
also a powerpoint presentation is here: http://www.bates.edu/news/2004/10/10/powerpoint-analysis/
What taking tests proves more than anything else is the effort and time that the student puts in to study for the test, including more often than not, how much the parents can afford to pay for tutors!
It is funny that the poster chose to mention test optional schools and rankings but didn’t mention superscoring, which seriously inflates the test scores published by schools.
To answer the original question, the percentage of admitted students submitting ACT or SAT test scores is available in the Common Data Set.
@TurnerT Totally agree with you on the superscoring comment!
Yeah, because everyone knows that poor kids needing FA are inherently smarter.
“but didn’t mention superscoring, which seriously inflates the test scores reported by schools” (#5)
This is a bit of a CC myth, I believe. Superscoring is done for the purposes of internal review. Reporting to external agencies must be done according to a standardized format. Simple computer algorithms could easily accomplish both of these tasks without conflict.
For Bowdoin––one of the more prominent test-optional schools––30% of matriculants do not submit standardized test scores. Also, Bowdoin urges its applicants to not send the scores if they don’t help an applicant. For example, if you have a 4.0 GPA and a 1800 SAT, it would be wise NOT to send. Similarly, a 4.0 with a 2300 should be sent.
As others pointed out, colleges adopt test optional policies for two primary reasons:
- The tests don’t accurately predict academic success
- Allows the college to move up in the rankings system
At lower levels of selectivity, colleges may be test optional for applicants who meet a sufficiently high standard in other aspects (e.g. GPA). For example, non-impacted majors at non-impacted California State Universities admit California resident frosh applicants with 3.0 (recalculated) high school GPAs without needing any test scores. But frosh applicants applying to impacted majors or campuses need to send SAT or ACT scores.
From what I’m reading above (thanks for the responses, by the way), it seems that the colleges would assume you didn’t test well if you choose to not send in your scores. I guess if you don’t send in scores you should have a lot of what they are looking for in terms of gpa and hooks, etc.
For a statistic that relates to the question, at the “test flexible” school I checked, applicants who used this option were accepted at a rate slightly less than half that of the overall admit rate and subsequently comprised 12% of admitted students. In interpreting this statistic, it should be considered that some applicants who do not submit conventional testing may be weaker applicants in general.
Btw, I’ve seen documented examples of colleges that are classified as most selective, but which appear to be not necessarily sensitive to either standardized testing or GPA for some applicants.
The Common Data Set lists the percentage of students submitting scores; while that does not tell you the percentage of students admitted who did not submit scores, it does give you a sense of how common it is at that school to go test-optional. Also, I believe, but could be wrong, that even at test optional schools, students attending are required to submit their scores. Not sure where I came across that information, but that has always been in the back of my mind, as the parent of a test optional student.
“I believe . . . that even at test optional schools, students attending are required to submit their scores” (#14)
I understand this to be true in certain cases for athletes, but not generally.
I suspect acceptance rates are higher for students who submit scores for two reasons.
- They're a self-selecting group; almost all of them have high scores, or they wouldn't submit them at all; and
- High test scores are probably a weak hook. If a kid with a 2300 is going to help GWU increase its midrange and rise in the US news rankings, that's a point in his/her favor, just as being an oboe player when the band needs an oboe player would be a point in his/her favor. The high-score kids serve an institutional need (rising in the rankings), and get a boost that students without test scores won't.*
*This isn’t as true at schools near the top of the score range - because high scores are more common among their applicants.
As it might relate to the topic, these are a few test optional or text flexible schools with their SAT scores as they might appear after adjustments were made for non-submitting students:
College | Reported Middle Range | Estimated Actual Middle Range
Bates | 1280-1430 | 1230-1380
Bowdoin | 1370-1520 | 1330-1480
Hamilton | 1310-1470 | 1290-1450
Middlebury | 1260-1470 | 1240-1450
(Calculation performed by simple algorithm with actual data where available. By necessity, one key figure was estimated.)
D1 athletes, and maybe D2 athletes, I’m just not familiar with D2 landscape, have to meet minimum eligibility requirements so need to submit scores to clearinghouse.
I did just double check, and at one school where my son has applied, it says on the admissions page that enrolled students have to submit their scores for research purposes.
“enrolled students have to submit their scores for research purposes” (#18)
That’s interesting, of course. Other colleges seem not to mention this factor at all, so that was the basis of post 15.