It just seems so odd that a top school that would have no trouble getting brilliant applicants would have that be optional. My theory is that if you apply and are not a recruited athlete, or are from a Hook scenario then they probably throw out applications without SAT subject tests.
I mean it sorta makes sense, this would be a very good way to keep admissions rate lower.
Does anyone else feel that way, or care to disagree? I am just curious on hearing what others have to say about this.
People toss up all sorts of hare-brained theories. The fact is Stanford has a limited number of seats. They don’t have to trick anyone to thin their stacks. If they say optional, there’s no “wink wink” involved. Believe what you wish.
I think they do that to entice aliens from outer space to apply. You are not the only one who can make up crazy theories.
I have always wanted to go to school with an alien from outer space! 
Stanford is not hyper focused on subject test scores. They are just one piece of information. If a student has good scores, it can be a benefit by reinforcing their knowledge in that area. Most people want to give all the positive input they can to Stanford. Not everyone can take the subject tests and Stanford is not going to be rigid and say you can’t apply without them.
I think Stanford gets the number of apps it does primarily because it is the California Ivy – with all due respect to Caltech (not adequately well-rounded) and USC (not enough academic rep… yet).
The Claremonts are great too but they are small LACs. Berkeley and UCLA are also outstanding, but they’re swimming in a different pool too (publics).
Any elite school that says SAT subject tests are optional does so to eliminate barriers and increase access. They would hate to see a desirable applicant look elsewhere just because they weren’t raised in a college prep pressure cooker. That said…it also serves the purpose of driving up applications and making schools appear more selective.
I think they do it to increase access for students from underprivileged backgrounds. Now if you are a wealthy applicant who went to an elite prep school and had all resources imaginable available to you, not having subject tests would hurt you I imagine.
Agreed with @Penn95 . Stanford along with Harvard does not need fancy gimmicks/loopholes in order to drive down their admission rate. Everyone amd their mother with some piece of a chance throws their lottery ticket into Stanford’s bucket. I believe they do not make these tests mandatory because they do not want genius kids who may happen to be from underpriveleged backgrounds to be exempt from applying.
@Penn95 is right! Stanford has been very committed to admitting kids from different backgrounds, and making sure they succeeded, for many decades. Missing a great applicant because of a test they didn’t know to take or couldn’t afford doesn’t make sense.
I disagree that it’s primarily about access. More likely, in their years of experience with top kids, they found the SAT subject tests were not a significant factor in decisions. There’s likely some correlation with the other strengths they seek (academic, experience in the intended field(s) and including the personal attributes they want to find) and already high enough S2 scores. Otherwise, they would work around this differently.
“My theory is that if you apply and are not a recruited athlete, or are from a Hook scenario then they probably throw out applications without SAT subject tests.” Are you applying or is this an idle question? I was going to use the word “hare-brained,” too.
You know they aren’t looking for hare-brained thinking, right? Quite the opposite.
Interestingly, Stanford has gone the other way from H in terms of subject tests. They had a policy of requiring only the regular SAT or ACT, and over the past 3-4 years, they have added the clause of subject tests being optional and making it more restrictive in the last couple of years by requiring them to be actually turned in (i.e. send the scores) if one took the test. So starting from a position of ‘we don’t care’ circa 2010, they have slowly moved to optional and now to ‘we want the scores if you took them’. However, they did say only for SAT or ACT all scores should be turned in while for subject tests score choice was allowed.