Thoughts about Test-Optional Schools


People often say that death and taxes are the only two things we can be sure of in our lives. Well for high school students, you can add one more to that list, and that is ‘standardized testing’. For some this is no big deal, and for others, this can be a very scary thought. There are tests to get you into high school, college, graduate school, professional schools, and tests to keep you enrolled in these schools. After that, there are tests to gain professional certificates and then to keep those certificates. As someone who was never a good test-taker, I wish tests didn't exist, but they do and we all better get used to that fact.

For high school juniors and seniors, the SATs and ACTs are a very important part of the college application process. Although some schools have started going test-optional, which means they do not consider a student’s standardized test scores for admission, there are still many questions about the effectiveness of this option. This is a very new process, and it is important for all students to research this option before applying test-optional to colleges. Please take a moment to read an article recently composed by Jennifer Karan, Executive Director of the SAT Program at the College Board, which talks about their view on test-optional schools:

-Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA


“Test Optional” May Not Mean What You Think It Means

Much has been made in the past few years about the ‘test-optional’ approach some colleges have taken toward admissions.  For those not familiar with the term, this means that these schools do not require students to submit a college entrance exam score.  At least, that’s what many of them would like you to think.
By making the admissions process appear a little easier or less cumbersome, higher education – and everyone else – knows students will be more likely to submit applications. To wit: in his 2009 report in The Journal of College Admission, Jonathan P. Epstein examined how dropping test requirements affects recruitment and enrollment. He said, “With colleges and universities engaged in intense competition to recruit ever more talented and diverse students… test-optional policies become alluring.”

Test-optional colleges often cite grades in core coursework and academic rigor as the most important factors on an application, and there’s no question that high school GPA is central to the admission process. What they don’t say is that the SAT actually serves as an objective validation of the factors like GPA. When test-optional colleges don’t require an entrance exam like the SAT from every student, they eliminate a fair and reliable predictor of how the applicant would perform at their institution.
Despite the label, test-optional schools still see the value in an SAT score.

College Board score-sending data indicates that 60 to 80 percent of applicants to test-optional schools still send SAT scores – and test-optional schools consider these scores when they’re received. Why?  Because students inherently understand that the SAT corroborates the other academic information on their application and colleges have seen that prove out time and again in their retention and graduation rates. 
Further, these schools often require scores to be submitted upon matriculation for course placement,  scholarship opportunities, and internal research, meaning that students who thought they didn’t need a college entrance exam end up taking one anyway, often on the fly.

As colleges work to become applicants’ dream schools, it’s important for students to remember that a seemingly easier application process – or the “alluring” path, as Epstein put it – isn’t always best.  College entrance exams provide critical information to students, parents and admission officers to help inform important decisions that will impact their future. 

By: Jennifer Karan, Executive Director SAT Program at the College Board

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