SAT Optional Schools

[northeastmom]

<p>I never really looked at the list before or explored the topic. The list has grown so much, and I have noticed that a few schools my son might be interested in are now on this list. I have some general questions. If one does not submit standardized scores, how are academic merit scholarships awarded? How does this impact the amount of grants vs. loans in a financial aid package? Has anyone felt that not submitting scores has hurt them in admissions, or by not being able to attend because of a lack of grant money. I suppose that most applicants not submitting scores are not doing so because their scores are in the below average range in at least one section.</p>

[sybbie719]

<p>My D applied and was accepted to a SAT optional school Mount Holyoke. She also applied to 6 other schools that took scores into consideration. She was accepted to all 7 schools. As part of Mount Holyoke’s process she also had to submit a graded paper with comments (she submitted a rewriting of a Canterbury Tale from her AP English class) and she chose to interview.</p>

<p>As far as FA was concerned, since it was need based aid, the package was what it was although D did receive a leadership award from the school.</p>

<p>

I suppose that most applicants not submitting scores are not doing so because their scores are in the below average range in at least one section.

</p>

<p>Definitely not true. Bates has been test optional for ~20 years and has done extensive research on the topic. Their findings were:

The difference in Bates graduation rates between submitters and non-submitters is 0.1% (one-tenth of one percent).
The difference in overall GPAs at Bates is .05 (five-hundredths of a GPA point); the exact difference is 3.06 for non-submitters and 3.11 for submitters. </p>

<p>Bates has almost doubled its applicant pool since making testing optional; about a third of each class at Bates enters without submitting testing in the admissions process. </p>

<p>Testing is not necessary for predicting good performance; the academic ratings assigned by Bates admissions staff are highly accurate for both submitters and non-submitters in predicting GPA. </p>

<p>Optional testing policies are often assumed to be a device for affirmative action efforts. Students of color use an optional testing policy at somewhat higher than average rates, and Bates has increased its enrollment of students of color and international students. But white students using the policy outnumber students of color by 5-to-1. </p>

<p>The policy draws sharply increased application rates from all the subgroups who commonly worry about standardized testing: women, U.S. citizens of color, international citizens, low-income or blue collar students, rural students, students with learning disabilities and students with rated talents in athletics, the arts or debate. </p>

<p>There are very modest differences in the majors that submitters and non-submitters choose at Bates, but some intriguing patterns: Non-submitters are more likely to major in fields that put a premium on creativity and originality.
There are modest differences in the career outcomes of submitters and non-submitters, with one glaring exception: the four fields where students have to take another standardized test to gain entrance to graduate programs for medicine, law, an M.B.A. or Ph.D. In fields where success does not depend on further standardized testing—including business executive officers and finance careers—submitters and non-submitters are equally represented.

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<p><a href=“http://www.bates.edu/ip-optional-testing-20years.xml[/url]”>http://www.bates.edu/ip-optional-testing-20years.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hamilton did a 5 year study where they found:</p>

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<p>There are a number of qualified applicants who apply each year – many who rank in the top 5 percent of their high school class – but in the past we might not have considered them because their SAT scores didn’t come close to our average of 1388 [in 2005] for admitted students," Inzer said. “Now we have a way to broaden the definition of achievement and expand the conversation so that it is about more than one exam.” </p>

<p>Data show the five-year experiment has been successful. “When I came to Hamilton two years ago and learned of this policy I was skeptical,” she said. “But the data prove this has been a good policy for all the right reasons.”</p>

<p>Inzer said students who do not submit the SAT have GPAs at Hamilton that are slightly higher (85.6 vs. 85.1) than those who choose to submit the SAT. “Clearly, SAT-optional students fare well academically here. These are students who have earned the privilege to be at Hamilton.”</p>

<p>Approximately 40 percent of the students in each entering class have chosen not to submit the SAT since it was made optional at Hamilton in 2001. During the same period, the percentage of students enrolled from underrepresented ethnicities has increased from 13 percent of the class to 18 percent, not including international students. Likewise, the percentage of students entering Hamilton ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class has improved from 63 percent to 70 percent, and the percentage of those ranked in the top 20 percent has risen from 83 percent to 87 percent.</p>

<p>“During the past five years, the academic profile of Hamilton’s entering classes has improved, while at the same time we have enrolled a more diverse class,” Inzer said. “This is a policy where everyone wins.”

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<p><a href=“http://www.hamilton.edu/news/more_news/display.cfm?id=10468[/url]”>http://www.hamilton.edu/news/more_news/display.cfm?id=10468&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Mount Holyoke has also done a multi-year study and did not find that students who went SAT optional as having lower scores that those that decided to submit scores.</p>

<p>when looking at their policy 4 years later, they found:</p>

<p>

Interim results from that study show no meaningful difference in academic performance between students who did not submit scores and those who did. The study shows that there is a .1 difference between the aggregate grade point averages of submitters and non-submitters. The difference is equivalent to approximately one letter grade in one course over a year of study.</p>

<p>“The fact is that the SAT does not add enough value for us to require students and their families to make such a large investment of time, energy, and money in this single, high-stakes test,” said Jane B. Brown, vice president for enrollment and college relations at Mount Holyoke. “We would encourage high school students to focus instead on activities that promote long-term intellectual and personal growth rather than on time-consuming and often expensive strategies to raise their SAT scores.”</p>

<p>One early result from the study confirms what has been widely assumed: As families’ income levels rise, so too does the likelihood that the student has had the advantage of SAT training classes or special tutoring. More than two-thirds of prospective Mount Holyoke students from higher-income families took an SAT preparation course, and one in three had private tutoring.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/sat/sat.shtml[/url]”>http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/sat/sat.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[northeastmom]

<p>Why wouldn’t an applicant submit scores if they were in the midrange or better in each section? There would not be anything to hide. What am I missing?</p>

<p>Financial need can be met by loans, w/s, or grants. Aid could be distributed as all loans and w/s to meet need, or all grants to meet need, and anything inbetween. Do you think that your D’s package might have been different if she submitted standardized scores that were better than Mount Holyoke’s average scores?</p>

<p>I was not discussing the correlation between college grades and scores. I was assuming that those not submitting scores are doing so bc their test scores were below average in one or more sections. This does not mean that an accepted student can’t do just as well as someone who scored higher. I was not talking about college gpa in my original post at all.</p>

[wjb]

<p>Some test-optional schools are test-optional for admissions purposes only. To be considered for merit aid, students still have to submit test scores. It’s important to check the requirements for each school. Also, I think kids who don’t submit test scores have to have very strong academic records within the context of the applicant pool for the particular school – they have strong transcripts, but just don’t test as well by comparison.</p>

[MarathonMan88]

<p>With a few exceptions, SAT-optional schools require standardized test scores from merit scholarship applicants. Although few schools talk about their preferential packaging of FA offers, it’s also pretty safe to assume that most schools that preferential package the amount of grant for top academic admits look at test scores for that purpose. </p>

<p>

I suppose that most applicants not submitting scores are not doing so because their scores are in the below average range in at least one section.

</p>

<p>I have a slightly different take on this than sybbie, FWIW. The Bates and Mount Holyoke studies confirm that the differences in scores between submitters and non-submitters are substantial. The positive results that SAT-optional schools report are for a relatively small and carefully selected group of non-submitting students: those who were admitted. These students perform nearly as well as their classmates, but it’s because the adcoms have carefully identified off-setting strengths. The Hamilton quote is a telling one: “many who rank in the top 5 percent of their high school class.” </p>

<p>I think that the selective SAT-optional schools can and do do a wonderful job of identifying non-submitting students who will succeed at their institutions, and that SAT-optional is a great option for some students. But I also think that the selective schools begin by attributing lower scores to non-submitting students, even though few are upfront about it, and that these students should go into the process with eyes open.</p>

[sybbie719]

<p>My D had nothing to hide as her scores were above the 75% range and a GPA of 98 out of 100 (unweighted as school did add points for anything) from a top NYC magnet school (graduated with a NYS advanced regents honors diploma) AP and college courses, so even if she had submitted her scores she still stood a good chance of being admitted. However at the time like you, I was a little curious about the SAT optional thing.</p>

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Do you think that your D’s package might have been different if she submitted standardized scores that were better than Mount Holyoke’s average scores?

</p>

<p>I honestly cannot say. However, she did receive a 6 figure merit Leadership Award from the school with her admissions with no scores submitted at all, so who is to say and how much more could I have been looking for. She also received a FA package that was comprable to some of the testing schools.</p>

<p>

Merit Scholarships: Mount Holyoke College Leadership Awards </p>

<p>As an institution that values the highest levels of academic excellence and the cultivation of women leaders, Mount Holyoke is pleased to offer a limited number of merit scholarships – awarded competitively – to first-year candidates who have an outstanding record of scholarship and extracurricular achievement in high school and who demonstrate noteworthy leadership skills.</p>

<p>These scholarships – Mount Holyoke College Leadership Awards – will be renewed annually, up to a maximum of eight semesters for as long as a student is enrolled full-time and remains in good academic standing. </p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~crvillar/leader_awards.htm[/url]”>http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~crvillar/leader_awards.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[northeastmom]

<p>Okay, I am now beginning to see that SAT optional, is really not so optional. It is not optional for those needing some financial help (either with merit of financial aid), and it is most beneficial to those with excellent gpas and excellent class rank, but lower than average score/s.</p>

<p>Sybbie, thanks. I had just cross posted with you.</p>

[K_J]

<p>I don’t think the SAT plays any part in how Bates, for example, awards financial aid. Seeing as all Bates aid is need-based and seeing as the SAT-optional policy was put in place to help underrepresented groups get into the college, it would make no sense to base the need-based aid awards on SAT performance.</p>

[MarathonMan88]

<p>I think I can explain the logic of how SATs probably play a role in FA awards at SAT-optional schools like Bates, though I have no knowledge of Bates’s aid allocation. Many schools, including most of the NESCACs, offer their top-rated admits, overwhelmingly students with both high test scores and high gpas, so-called preferential packaging (sometimes more forthrightly called merit-within-need). A preferentially packaged financial-aid offer meets calculated need entirely with grant money instead of the usual combination of loan + work study + grant. Well qualified URMs and other highly desirable students are frequently offered preferential packages as well. If Bates doesn’t compete in the preferential packaging game, I’ll bet it’s not because they wouldn’t like to.</p>

<p>On a (marginally) related note, I give Muhlenberg College high marks for this web page, which lays out the details of preferential packaging and how it can affect students’ college planning. Few colleges even admit publicly that they use the practice, let alone help students think through its consequences:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.muhlenberg.edu/admissions/aid.html[/url]”>http://www.muhlenberg.edu/admissions/aid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[ellemenope]

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@""

<blockquote>
<p>What this means to you is: If money is a factor in your college search and it will impact your final choice, you should make sure to apply to colleges where you are clearly in the top third to top quarter of the applicant pool.</p>
</blockquote>

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<p>If you are just squeaking in for admission, odds are your financial aid, if it comes, will be mostly aid you give yourself (i.e., loans or work).<<</p>

<p>From the Muhlenberg site…I agree with you, MM88–good advice for anyone to whom merit $$ is important.</p>

[frazzled1]

<p>

On a (marginally) related note, I give Muhlenberg College high marks for this web page

Agreed, MarathonMan! We’ve visited Muhlenberg twice and find it to be a true gem in many respects. It doesn’t surprise me that they’d be so forthcoming about how financial aid packages are awarded. I do believe that SAT scores must be submitted for merit aid candidates there. Applicants who do not submit SAT/ACT scores have to submit a graded paper and do an interview with an admissions rep instead.</p>