Distinctive

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D.

Over a half century ago, while Jimi Hendrix riffed “The Star Spangled Banner” at legendary Woodstock, another group of people were making a countercultural decision that we’re only starting to feel the momentum of today. In 1969, the admissions team at Maine’s Bowdoin College made the school the first American institution of higher education to go test optional. It was considered a very radical idea at the time, and it took another decade before any other colleges dared to follow in its footsteps. 

Fast forward to 2021, and we’re now seeing the majority of American schools drop standardized test requirements as a result of COVID-19. Since March, it has been very difficult and risky to sit for a test and the early promises of delivering online, at-home ACT and SAT exams have quickly dissolved like an Alkaseltzer in water. As a result, most colleges, including the Ivies, have chosen some permutation of a loose testing policy. But with such rapid changes, who knows what it all really means? Does optional really mean optional? Should you test? How long will it last? 

What Does It All Mean?

To help you think through the situation, let’s start with the jargon, since many people haven’t heard of the three different ways to apply without traditional testing requirements:

Test-Optional: In this situation, you can choose whether or not you wish to submit your SAT or ACT results. Your choice should be dictated by where your score falls within the schools’ averages. While a number of factors like geography, race, and socioeconomic background can impact how your scores are viewed, a good rule of thumb is to only submit your scores if they are at or above the college’s average score. For the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, nearly ⅗ of colleges went test-optional, which, we should note, caused application numbers at certain schools to soar (MIT, for example, saw a 62% increase in the Early Action round in 2020)! 

Test-Flexible: In this particular situation, you are given choices: you can submit SAT or ACT results, a given number of SAT Subject Tests (usually 3), or a given number of AP or IB results (usually 3). You can pick whichever option works best for you. You cannot choose, however, not to send in any scores.While schools that were previously test-flexible opted to become test-optional for the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, do expect this policy to return to certain institutions after the pandemic is over.

Test Blind: In this situation, which has most notably taken hold in the University of California system, your test scores will not be considered at all in the process, even if you send them. This is a bold move for colleges to take, and has certainly benefited students with learning differences, who found it especially difficult to test this year. 

Whether or not you have the option to apply as a test optional, test flexible, or test blind student is up to the individual colleges. They each set their own policies, and you must adhere to them. 

Optional Isn’t Really Optional, Right?

Many people rightly doubt how optional test-optional really is. Why else would NACAC, the governing body of American college admissions, put together a plea asking colleges to commit to the idea that “optional means optional?” While the majority of schools have opted for test optional admissions in the 2020-2021 cycle, not even half of those have fully committed to fair admissions for those who do not submit test scores. This is because many colleges use test scores to determine scholarship packages, select students for special programs including honors colleges, and climb their way up the rankings. 

Yet, a number of the Early Action/Decision announcements have shown promising outcomes for the test-optional cohort. At UPenn, 24% of the admitted class did not submit test scores. At the University of Georgia, 30% of admitted students did not submit test scores. At Tufts, a whopping 56% of admitted students did not submit test scores! We’ve also seen successes among our own students. One test-optional applicant was accepted Early Decision to a Reach School – Wake Forest – while several other students have gained admission to Target and Likely Schools without test scores, and in some cases, with huge scholarships!

Should You Test?

What does all of this mean for you if you’re in the Class of 2022 or a later one? Should you try to test? How will colleges view you? There are no great answers to these questions, but we will say that the decision to test this year is a very personal one, and in no way do we encourage anyone to test if they don’t want to. If you don’t feel comfortable testing, then just put a statement in your Additional Information section about that choice, and leave the issue at that. 

Keep in mind, too, that colleges will also be looking more closely at the other pieces of your application that speak to your interests and your character, like your extracurricular achievements, essays, and letters of recommendation, not to mention your transcripts and demonstrated interest. Lean into those other portions of the admissions puzzle to let colleges see that you’re a good person who engages with the world and has interests that extend far beyond the classroom. The pandemic may have disrupted traditional college admissions, but it certainly hasn’t stopped you from living and finding new (and sometimes even better) ways to navigate the world around you. Show colleges that, and you will find that SAT and ACT scores really aren’t all that important.  

How Long Will This Last?

It’s hard to say how long the test-optional situation will last. We’re fairly certain that most highly selective schools will quickly revert to requiring the SAT and ACT as soon as the pandemic ends, although CalTech has indicated that it will be test-blind for two years and the University of California system has already indicated that they are completely dropping the SAT and ACT by 2024. While it was likely not their intent, many families have basically ensured the survival of these tests, ignoring the offer of test-optional admissions, by driving hours across state borders to get to open test centers. Tests will come back to most schools, though not all, and we’ll have to figure out what that means for everyone individually. Our hope, however, is that this massive shift to test-optional this year will show colleges that they can make great admissions decisions without the SAT and ACT, because there are so many other ways to determine how amazing all of you are.