Hi! I want to apply to several colleges test optional because I don’t feel that my scores accurately represent me. Will this affect my chances negatively? THANKS
No
This will depend on the school, but the relevant statistics may often not be fully public.
The test-flexible Hamilton does provide this information and indicates that students who applied with the “3-tests” option were admitted at the same rate as applicants overall (24%):
https://www.hamilton.edu/admission/apply/standardized-testing-distribution-of-scores
I have always wondered about this.
Except Test Flexible isn’t holistic like Test Optional so more likely to be similar to traditional applicants IMHO
It can reduce your chances to get merit aid if the school offers it.
On merit aid, some schools are quite specific about the impact of applying test optional. Dickinson only awards its lower tier awards to test optional, I think the maximum award was about $10,000 per year for a test optional student. St Lawrence does not award to test optional applicants. Denison awards at least up to its 1/2 tuition awards for test optional students. Our experience was that other test optional schools like Lawrence etc. also awarded up to 1/2 tuition awards for a test optional student.
All the test optional schools we visited, from Maine to midwest, said not to submit the scores if they do not reflect who you are as a student and that there is no negative impact on admissions for students who do not submit.
So, if a school is Test Optional and then caps Merit Awards at a lower level or eliminates entirely, does that mean that it is less holistic than assumed?
I interpret it to mean that it is being upfront that it uses merit to attract high stat students who will accept and enhance stats used in US News and general reputation of school. Kids who are counting on merit awards are applying to safeties and matches to get those awards, so admissions is not usually an issue. The issue is how much merit will go with the acceptance. My test optional kid had no problem with admissions at the schools that capped merit for test optional kids, we just needed more merit than was afforded.
so if merit aid is not super important to me, i am not at a disad?