“Bowdoin is about to hit 50 years without requiring SAT or ACT. More colleges are following suit, and University of California announces it will study whether value remains in admissions testing.” …
It goes without saying that standardized tests shouldn’t be the only benchmark for admission. However, eliminating the ONLY objective, uniform measure in college admission goes way too far. It will make college admission even less predictable and admission to top selective colleges even more competitive, as some of those applicants whose test scores are way off would likely apply.
Agree with 1NJParent. I think the most unfortunate thing is that of all the measures used to evaluate a holistic app - GPA, test scores, ECs, LoRs, the test score is the easiest one for highly intelligent low-SES students to do well in independently. I grew up poor, and having to work and having home conditions that weren’t conducive to study or good self-presentation was something that definitely impacted GPA, ability to do ECs, LoRs, but my high test scores were something that showed my potential…
Let’s see how it works out at UChicago. The way I read the Empower Initiative is that the “test optional” route is there to encourage great students who maybe didn’t score so well on a test to let their application stand on its merit without the score. However, I do not read that as “if you are a reach student in your application, you can drop your test score and that will improve your chances.” I read it as your application needs to be outstanding in every way and if it is equally outstanding without a test score we may admit you. I think in the past when an applicant has an outstanding application except it has a less then stellar test score they very well may have been accepted. However, they want the University to have the ability to make that decision. Historically, the theory is, that students that are exceptional with a poor (below average) test score choose to not even apply and give the University a chance to review for acceptance. There was no minimum cutoff to apply, it is just students were self-selecting out of the pool because they thought their score wasn’t high enough.
What I’m seeing on the chance me threads are “applications” that are a high reach with or without the test score being offered up. I’m not sure those are the students the University is going after with this process.
I don’t see it making it more competitive by increasing the number of “non-acceptable” applications. It only becomes more competitive if people who would not have been accepted had they applied in the past are accepted over those who are currently being accepted.
Will it increase the number of applications? Most likely
Will it decrease the acceptance rate? If it increases the number of applications and the number of acceptances remains the same, then obviously yes.
Will it mean a different “pool” of students are accepted? I really don’t think so materially
The test optional schools I’ve seen (which aren’t many) require at least 2 graded papers in lieu of the test scores. Do the Bowdoins and other top schools require something in place of the test scores?
I think it’s interesting in light of the other thread/conversation about rampant grade inflation, that so many schools are moving to a test optional route. IMO, it’s going to make college admission both less predictable and even less transparent.
In the past I might have agreed with @1NJParent and @milee30, but with all the scandals surrounding these tests, I’m starting to think the schools are right to down play them. Look at what is going on with the August SAT as well as all the students wrongly accused of cheating by the ACT. I’m all in favor of standardized measures, but if the these tests can’t be administered fairly, they are pointless.
I wonder if colleges will ever move to a model of having their own entrance exams? Kind of like private high schools. Bet that would solve the issue of kids applying to a ton of schools too.
Its all about control—the AOs having total control over the college admissions process.
@momofsenior1 : A fair suggestion about entrance exams, however… At my (undergrad) alma mater they had entrance exams when I went to school. Naturally, the system had eventually become so rife with graft, nepotism, discrimination (under the guise of “fair representation”) and inefficiency that it was eventually abolished in favor of…drum roll, please… a unified nationwide standardized test! Go figure 
@NJWrestlingmom Bowdoin doesn’t require graded papers or any extra materials for test option students. You can submit no test scores or whatever test scores you want. They won’t superscore what you do send. They have been test option since the 1960’s so they feel that between your GPA and their detailed understanding of the high schools and their course rigor and your application essays that they know how to evaluate students without the scores. They do require test scores for home schooled kids, from schools with no traditional grades or other cases where the GPA cannot adequately reflect the student’s capacity.
@citivas Bowdoin superscores both ACT and SAT https://www.bowdoin.edu/admissions/apply/testing-policy.shtml
They have a detailed understanding of 30k high schools in the US? Really?
@Mwfan1921 Cool, that’s new.
@roycroftmom They only have to know the schools from which kids apply and that would be a subset. Most of the top colleges have detailed profiles on the high schools they get most of their students from. They know what the top course offered in each category are, how many AP, IB, etc. courses they offer, average GPA, GPA of quadrant, how weighted GPA’s are calculated and the practical maxes, which activities are considered the most prestigious or rigorous, etc. That’s all documented. What isn’t, which I suspect is true too is they have a fair amount of comparative data on how other peers of those schools have performed at their college, how likely kids from that high school are to accept admission, etc. There’s a lot of big data out there. That’s why more than anything you are competing against your current and former peers from your own school. Anyway, the bottom line is they don’t expect supplemental materials for those who don’t submit scores and they have been doing it for about 50 years.
And I guess they continue recruiting from the small sliver of high schools they know about. It is a big world out there. Sounds like a very narrow approach designed to maintain the status quo.
However, in theory, there are other standardized tests that could have better predictive value on college success than the SAT and ACT (e.g. achievement-based tests like SAT subject tests, AP tests, IB tests). But, in practice, they do not have the incumbency advantage that the SAT and ACT have – a college that replaces the SAT and ACT with other standardized tests would likely miss out on applicants who may not want to bother, or who did not know about them, when most testing mindshare is on the SAT and ACT.
I’ve just finished reading “Educated” by Tara Westover. She was “homeschooled” by her parents but in reality not schooled at all and was destined for manual jobs and homemaking. However, she self-studied for ACT, and this was the only reason she got into BYU. She had no chance otherwise, with no school grades or teachers recommendations and parents who were strongly against college. She went on to have a PhD from Cambridge.