Test Optional Colleges Create More Options For Students

By Jill S. Goldsmith, J.D., LAC, NCC      

         High school seniors who do not score well on standardized tests often opt out of applying to selective colleges and universities because they believe that they cannot compete.  However, a growing number of colleges and universities have dropped the SAT and ACT requirements for admission consideration.  Test optional colleges and universities have increased students’ options and increased diversity on their campuses.

        The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (Fair Test)’s website, Fairtest.org, identifies over 850 four-year colleges and universities that recognize that standardized tests do not measure key factors for academic success or predict success in college.  Many have dropped the ACT and SAT for admissions altogether; others have adopted a “test flexible” approach.  For example, Wesleyan University, Wake Forest University, Pitzer College (part of the Claremont Colleges), and American University all highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report, make submission of the ACT and SAT completely optional.  Test optional schools make do not make negative judgments about students who decide not to submit standardized scores.

        Bates College reported that a 20-year study “found no differences in academic performance or graduation rates between submitters and non-submitters.”  About one third of Bates’ applicants choose not to submit their test scores.  Bowdoin College, ranked 4th among national liberal arts colleges by the U.S. News & World Report, has not required standardized tests since 1969 except for students who are not given grades such as those who are home schooled.

       Test flexible schools have not thrown out the tests completely.  Instead, a student can submit AP, IB or SAT subject tests (SAT II) in lieu of ACT or SAT scores. For example, New York University and Colorado College use this approach.  Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon allows students to submit a test optional portfolio, which includes samples of analytical writing and quantitative/scientific work, and two academic teacher evaluations. 

     While some debate whether standardized testing is biased against students of color and low-income students, tossing the tests has increased diversity in test optional schools.  For example, after dropping the test requirements in 2008, Wake Forest University reported that their student body is more “diverse and intellectually stimulating.”  Pitzer College, part of the Claremont Colleges in southern California, reported that dropping the SAT and ACT for admission increased diversity of their student body by 58 percent. The Fair Test organization reported that many colleges and universities share these experiences. 

      Regardless of a school’s approach to standardized tests, most competitive schools recognize that “applicants are more than a test score.”  Beyond a rigorous course load, schools seek students who are intellectually curious, involve themselves deeply in a few activities, become leaders, and are involved in the community.  Accordingly, beginning in the ninth grade, students should involve themselves in and out of the classroom in ways that demonstrate that they will enrich the university or college that they seek to attend.