Vassar announced today that they are officially permanently test optional.
What do you think? And how much do you think this influences students’ decisions to apply or not?
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Well if you don’t have a sufficient test score, it gives you an opportunity.
But many of these LACs are already here and if they want to keep their app quantity up, it’s a natural decision to make. More apps = lower acceptance rates = keep the prestige level higher.
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There are other colleges that have been test optional for decades, such as Bates, which has been so since 1984.
From a 2011 article published by DePaul University, which describes the “watershed” moment in the test optional movement:
“Bates College, a highly selective liberal arts college in Maine, has been test-optional since 1984, but has always required all students to submit their test scores upon matriculation to allow them to compare “submitters” to “non-submitters” for research purposes. Their twenty-year longitudinal data were presented at the 2004 National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) conference, at which thousands of college and high school counselors were in attendance. Among many findings reported by Bates, two pieces of data stood out: graduation rates between submitters and non-submitters varied by only 0.1%, and average Bates GPAs varied by only 0.05%. In addition, non-submitters had slightly higher graduation rates. Even though SAT scores of non-submitters were 160 points lower than scores of submitters at Bates, these test performance discrepancies did not correlate to significant differences in widely-used measures of college success.
The Bates data renewed national interest in test-optional policies, and a number of selective colleges went test-optional after the results of the Bates study were released.”
I know this post isn’t about Bates, but I don’t see Vassar’s decision as anything particularly noteworthy. The test optional movement is well established by now and many more LACs have become test optional, especially in the last decade.
Vassar is making itself more accessible to a wider range of students and will, almost certainly, see higher numbers of apps.
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TO = more apps = larger denominator = lower admit rate
To some, that means they are more selective.
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There are HUNDREDS of colleges that are test optional. Fairtest.org lists them. I think this is the wave of the future.
Or won’t see app count take a precipitous fall from current levels that are TO based and up thousands over a few years.
yes, I know a lot have been test optional for the last few years. Do you know if there is list of schools that has announced that they are permanently test optional?
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Look on Fairtest.org. That site lists all of the test optional schools. And you also know that all CA publics are permanently test blind. No option to submit at all…they won’t even look at them.
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I have said this multiple times, if AA falls as expected, I am pretty sure just about every selective institution of higher learning will provide some type of a “TO” pathway. Meanwhile, kids that need merit money at schools that still offer those scholarships will continue to take SAT/ACT.
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Have been reading opinions about this on Vassar alums Facebook groups. Interesting range of opinions. I think if Vassar wants to stay relevant with its peer schools, this was the way to go. Students can still send scores if they wish.
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I don’t know if they’ve stated it outright, but given that Bowdoin and Bates have been test optional since 1969 and 1984, respectively, I’d say that it is permanent.
These colleges have been test optional for over ten years, I believe: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, College of the Holy Cross, Pitzer College, George Mason University, Fairfield University, Texas A&M, American University and New York University. I’m sure there are others.
Columbia announced in early March that it is permanently test optional.
Apart from a few colleges who are going back to requiring ACT/SAT scores (notably Florida schools, MIT and Georgetown), I can’t think of many other colleges who will require test scores.
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The vast majority of colleges are test blind or offer TO now. If AA falls, I don’t see that spurring a change in policy at the schools that currently require tests, such as MIT, Gtown, FL/GA/TN publics, US Naval academy.
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