It is also needed if the student is applying to any universities outside the US-admissions officers abroad expect standardized test results and rightfully distrust American school grades.
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Historically - but not today as schools that went TO the last few years are adding it back in. I was talking about recent.
Thanks
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Never said they did, I said WE live in California. Not sure how that statement was confusing to you.
Very, very many colleges outside of California are test optional. And students without test scores can and do get into them.
There are a number of schools that require standardized testing. If you want to apply to one of those schools, then you must fulfill the requirements.
Again, not sure what was confusing to you about my original post.
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Some schools are doing that, yes. But at least as many schools seem to be making their pilot TO programs permanent. I don’t have numbers at hand, admittedly – it’s just my impression that more are announcing that they are going permanently TO than are reversing the policy.
EDIT: Actually, I did find some numbers. It’s a little harder to find info on schools that currently require tests, but it appears that there are relatively few that have gone back to that policy.
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I get it - but I count those as TO already even though they were pilots.
Anyway, I think OP has seen the reasons to - or to not take the SAT. The current #s aren’t necessarily relevant to the discussion, sans the schools that are test blind, etc.
Just not true
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I googled “what percentage of colleges are test optional” and got this response.
" That proportion of institutions with test-optional policies has more than doubled since the spring of 2020."
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This may be true - but OP is making the statement that it’s not important or key to your future.
Well, in many cases it would be true - but not all.
Do you want to go to Gtown? Better take it. How about Florida…or Florida Atlantic? Take it. Purdue, Tennessee - take it.
Alabama - don’t take it - but do you want significant merit money - take it, etc. Mississippi State - take it. Do other TO schools likely tie merit to an SAT - perhaps - no way truly to know. In other words, two identical kids get admitted - one has an SAT and one doesn’t - will the one kid get more or any merit vs. the first? No way to know - but I imagine at some schools - yes.
So I don’t think the discussion here is about - are schools TO. We all know the far majority are.
But the OP basically stated that the test is a sham - and I think that can be debated.
But to each their own.
If someone says, I’d love to go to UF or UGA but - I’ll go to LSU or South Carolina instead because I didn’t want to take the test - that’s their right and I wish them luck.
OK - I think we killed this one 
Til the next post that says something similar.
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Agree completely.
I think this is the most important point.
Also agree with this 
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Nvm
Actually it can’t. You can express your opinion without getting into debate.
As a heads up to the OP, who also asked the same question on Reddit: if you plan to post part 2, as you did on Reddit, you need to include it in this thread rather than starting a new one.
Which would also be fine with me as this seems to be a rehash of older threads
Can you provide a source for this? Where do colleges share the percent of students they accept TO? I don’t think it’s on CDS.
CDS section C8 & C9, number of students that submitted scores. Not the exact answer but similar
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A large number of student submit both. So the best you can determine is the minimum number of students who applied TO.
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For what it’s worth, the original poster posted this exact same thing (verbatim) to r/ApplyingToCollege the other day. Their goal seems to be stir the pot rather than any sort of sincere inquiry.
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It is one way to validate (or invalidate…) GPA.
With so many high schools seemingly inflating GPA, how else can you quantitatively differentiate all the 3.8+ GPAs, than to give all the kids the same knowledge/reasoning test? (or… two versions of essentially the same thing)
GPAs can be compared locally. A 3.8 gpa and a challenging or easy course load means something in context of the school.
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I also realized that AP scores could be used, at least to compare kids who complete them.
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My understanding is that this is what many colleges do. The guidance counselor provides a school profile that will list thing like average GPA and often the recommendation forms include assessments of the applicant compared to other students at the school. This seems a reasonable way to handle the diversity of school experiences.
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Relatively few schools consider AP scores in the admissions decision even if submitted. There are even greater access issues to AP tests than SAT/ACT tests.
High school students do not all have the same ‘chance’ to do well on the SAT/ACT for a myriad of reasons which have been beat to death on other threads, and on other sites.
Many schools are staying TO because there is a great deal of data showing TO applicants do as well in college as those who submitted tests, and it also allows them to receive apps from a more diverse (in many ways) pool.
If most colleges saw value in using an SAT/ACT to help them determine who would be successful at their school, they would require a test score. Seems simple.
Students should absolutely continue to test if they are from groups that AOs (from certain schools) expect to have test scores, want to maximize merit scholarships/attain NMF, or if they have schools on their list that require tests. I agree with OP on CB.
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