Yes, it wasn’t just a random coincidence that nearly all highly selective private colleges that were not previously test optional just happened to choose to go test optional in the class of 2025 admission cycle. Most were a reaction to COVID 19. Colleges did not want to penalize students who could not easily take the test due to COVID… or at least did not want to appear that they were penalizing kids struggling from COVID-19 related challenges.
However, prior to COVID-19 there were ~1000 test optional/bind/flexible colleges, including several highly selective ones, such as Chicago and Bowdoin. The reasons for choosing to go test optional prior to COVID vary and often having many contributing factors including:
Internal studies within the college and external studies often show that the test score adds little beyond other measures that are available to evaluate students
Kids from certain desirable underrepresented groups tend to be overrperesnted among non-submitters including first gen, lower SES, and URMs. Test scores often have a reputation for being a greater benefit to kids from privileged backgrounds than these groups.
Test optional tends to increase total applications at highly selective colleges for which test scores are often seen as a barrier to admissions.
Influence from what peer colleges are doing and competing with peer colleges
Furthermore, the enrollment management team proposed a test-optional admission policy in order to increase applications not only from its primary markets, but also from more racially diverse communities. Approximately 15% of Ithaca’s freshmen class was from the ALANA (African-American, Latino/a, Asian and Native American) communities in 2009 while the institutional plan aimed to grow the ANALA student population from 15% to 20% by 2020.
The author indicates that one goal of test optional to increase total applications, and another goal is to increase the portion of URMs in the student body from 15% to 20%. The study reviews the cost of this policy by comparing how much predictive ability is lost with test scores removed. The author finds:
Full Admissions Model Including Test Scores – Explains 44% of variance in cumulative GPA
Full Admissions Model Without Test Scores – Explains 43% of variance in cumulative GPA
Ithaca concluded that this degree of predictive ability lost was acceptable, and implemented the test optional policy. Ithaca has remained test optional since then.
Not a brag at all but to make this VERY tangible - S graduated HS with a 3.97 UW / 5.5x W GPA, 1460 SAT (single sit), All AP, Class President, 2 yr Captain of baseball team, Student ambassador, LINK leader, AP Scholar with Distinction, was his school’s Jefferson Scholars candidate, received best overall student (based on grades, community involvement, and character) per the faculty and staff for his last 3 yrs of HS, etc.
Was rejected by HYP, Vandy, UVA oos & UNC oos. He was the kid that everyone said , “if not you, who?” Don’t know who but it wasn’t him. No hooks as he didn’t want to go out for baseball in college. He also didn’t take any SAT subject tests as he was burned out. I told him not to even apply to those top 4 without it as “not mandatory” is a crock!
The good news is, it doesn’t matter. There are plenty of GREAT schools out there, many that will provide an equal education (or maybe even better depending on the UG focus, class size, etc.) He went to a great school, had a great time, got a great job at a world leading company in its field, etc. Don’t know that his outcome would have been much different at any of the previously mentioned schools.
We actually focused on fit so any of the schools on his short list (attended one of them) was going to be a nice match. I would seriously consider fit to create a realistic list including the heavy hitters.
Couldn’t agree more about focusing on fit. Unfortunately with limitations on campus visits and in-person interactions because of the pandemic, finding the right fit hasn’t been easy for some over the past few years.
I hope you don’t mind me using your son’s profile in the test optional discussion, but had your son been applying this year he may well have been a good candidate to consider going test optional to at least some of those schools. I say this because he was obviously a very accomplished and qualified applicant even without even considering the test score. Incredibly, a 1460 SAT score could have been a strike against him. (pun intended)
I hope it works out for you and your son, but I wouldn’t bet on the test optional landscape improving his odds of admissions.
I believe rickle1 mentioned his son chose Wake Forest in another thread, which was test optional prior to COVID.
I agree than in general kids who are admitted to highly selective colleges test optional tend to have everything except test scores – great grades, great course rigor, great LORs, great essays, great ECs/awards, … Such kids generally don’t bomb the SAT/ACT, but they may get lower scores than typical for kids who excel to the same degree in non-score areas, such as this example. As rickle1 noted, in some previous admission cycles, SAT subject tests were also relevant.
I have an interesting observation. In our school’s Naviance, students with top GPAs have top SAT and ACT scores, but those who took ACT only have slightly lower GPAs.
And what would be the reason for a college not to want those scores below the median other that to have only great looking scores? That is so ridiculous!