I know that both the sat and act have been rescheduled to early June, but from the information I’ve read it seems likely that we’ll have to maintain social distancing for around 5 more months if no vaccine or treatment is developed (which will likely take 12-18 months). If this is true will all schools, including the Ivies, be going test-optional because the only test dates out of that time frame are September 12th for the ACT and October 3rd for the SAT, and those are 2020-2021 dates. I am quite worried because I haven’t gotten the chance to take either test, as I was waiting to take them at a later date since I own a clothing business and was far too busy to study for any of the early dates. I wanted to take the ACT when my school took it, but I was at a DECA competition on that date, so I studied for the makeup session, but school got canceled the week before. I read an article from the Harvard Crimson that said, “Applicants will not face a penalty… if they are unable to retake the SAT or ACT.” However, I never got the chance to take it whatsoever, so what is the 2020-2021 admissions process probably gonna be like.
(I understand it’s very hard to predict right now, but if that scenario does play out what are some thoughts on what’s likely to happen?)
My guess is that a lot of colleges will go test optional, but not ALL of them.
Those tests are already a multi hour exercise in social distancing. You might not see them administered in large auditoriums or cafeterias any time soon, but with enough recruiting of proctors, they could safely run in classrooms of a dozen or fewer students once restrictions are lifted. There will be a chance to take it if you want/need to.
That makes sense; however, I can’t imagine many people being ok with holding exams with multiple kids in the same area, even if it is with a dozen or less. If staying at home is recommended I highly doubt schools would allow kids in the same classroom regardless. Plus, they would have to have enough instructors to administer the test to a massive portion of high school students since so many dates were canceled, and I don’t think there are enough people willing to volunteer to administer the tests in classes of a dozen kids or less. So, although I hope I get a chance, it just doesn’t seem feasible, and I don’t think those tests would be worth risking the health of such a large amount of students. I think the Ivies and many other top schools are going to hold out until the very end, but eventually, they’ll have to go test-optional.
I will speculate like everyone else who is guessing what the future holds that SAT/ACT tests will be administered in the fall. I think most schools will be test optional for the next cycle.
But what about most other state schools? It’s an issue. Many times the student’s flagship is their best deal financially and what if they can’t apply because they don’t have a score? Not to get ahead of ourselves quite yet though. We don’t know when tests will start happening again but I don’t think it’s looking good for summer
UC Berkeley is going to consider applications without test scores, but it still, as of now, “recommends” them. I believe most students who want to submit a score will find a way to do so because the most competitive colleges will still want to see scores. I am very sure both College Board and ACT will move the tests online, especially ACT, who was planning to start doing so in September anyway, for section retakes.
I think many publics will request test scores and might allow some kind of waiver in certain circumstances. And I think many of the colleges that waive scores for this upcoming cycle will only do so for Fall 2021 applicants
GPA - probably now skewed higher given current policies at many HSs
SATs - many kids may not have these and colleges are saying they are TO
SAT Subj tests - no longer considered at MIT/CalTech etc
So they will be left with ECs which have a history of being embellished extensively and colleges do very little verification, essays which are often revised heavily by others, and LORs.
It seems to me this will result in an even crazier round of admissions for top kids in 2021…a bit unfair to top performing students…
I am curious how testing will play out. My D has one solid ACT from February, but was hoping to try again to improve. IMO having online testing from home for APs or ACT/SAT sounds like a lot of problems…especially after the whole cheating scandal last year. It seems that there would be many ways for one to cheat, or be accused of cheating even if they weren’t. What I am concerned about with AP tests is the…what if something goes wrong with the WIFI at home. I think our state has done some state testing online and I have seen in the news and I think even in our district, times when something went wrong with the technology. Then what? Too bad…test invalid? It would also seem a bit like comparing apples to oranges with paper tests submitted for paper act/sat vs computer act/sat results. It just seems like all of these tests would have to be thrown together in such a rushed fashion for this year’s kids that it would not give a clear picture of abilities. I’m hoping they will be able to test in June.
Do you think having a strong SAT score, let’s say at the top of the middle 50% for a school like UF will carry the same weight that it would have before this happened?
Why would things be different at UF wrt standardized tests (unless they end up going test optional)? Even if UF goes TO, a student is generally better off having a test score in the ‘top of the middle 50%’ and that’s true at most any TO school.
^^ It’s possible schools like UF, even if they go test optional, will become even more competitive given their relative affordability combined with an economic downturn. So, scores may skew upward. Just a guess, though.
Re: all schools going test optional – the decision may be taken out of the schools’ hands if the College Board is unable to administer any tests between now and next fall. No one can know if this will or will not be the case.
I suspect most will be test optional because it penalizes too many kids not to be. Some will be completely unable to ever take the test, potentially. Others will have good scores from very early testing, but those are few and far between. As 1Lotus said, even if they are able to somehow pull off large scale online testing it is highly likely there a) will be technical issues b) will be equity issues with kids unable to take the exam, due to lack of good internet, lack of laptop etc.
Personally I think putting 100 kids in a gym (or putting 10 in a classroom) for several hours is a very bad idea in terms of COVID transmission. (And here again, there are equity issues – perhaps in a state will very few cases, the exams could go forward, but in states with lots of cases they can’t). Given that circumstances are so different, it will be up to the schools to level the playing field by treating all the kids as if they all did not have a chance to take the test.
Finally, if a kid is lucky enough to have a great score from early testing, I suspect they will be able to submit it. But even if they can’t, if they are a strong candidate for a school, then they will continue to be a strong candidate – the test score is only one piece of an application.
Once again, if you consider all of the components that the AOs look at the GPA, SAT and SAT Subject tests are being ignored or at least the conversation seems to be headed that way. The remaining parts of the app could easily not represent only the students work and it is not often evaluated.
@amsunshine that is my big fear. But I do feel like all of the top students in Florida already apply to UF, even the ones that have no intention of going there. I would expect the yield for in state to be much higher though. Maybe it will be balanced with a dip in international and OOS students?
@NJCity I fall on the opposite side of this issue than you. Obviously my personal circumstances informed my opinion. I have two kids whose scores in no way represent their ability to succeed in college. One at Haverford- who took her despite her scores beneath their 25th percentiles- who is doing great with a 3.95 average, and one getting ready to start college who got into a number of schools where she may well have the lowest score at the school. Those tests are not everything, or even close to it, when it comes to potential.
We are seeing many schools go TO, at least for the next year. Kids who have to apply TO if they don’t have a score (or don’t have one they like) will be limited in the schools they can apply to, and will have relatively more weight place on their other application components…just like before covid-19. The difference now is they have a much bigger list of TO schools to choose from.
The ACT section tests that start this September were always going to be online…ACT and CB are probably much farther along with this than many seem to think. Some International ACT and SATs are also administered online and have been so for years.
The fact that my kid has a good test score was not due to luck. He worked his butt off to study so that he could have a good score in junior year well before coronavirus popped up. Why would he not be able to submit it?