#testoptional

While many of the 850 schools choosing to forego standardized test scores are bible schools, nursing schools, music schools, or other more specialized institutions, larger liberal arts colleges are beginning to take the leap as well.   Among the most noteworthy are American University, Bowdoin College, DePaul University, George Mason University, Lewis and Clark College, and Wake Forest University.  These schools argue that standardized tests are not a fair representation or indicator of success.  When push comes to shove, the SAT and ACT are just Saturdays, and any student could have one bad Saturday or five bad Saturdays, and that should not be a hindrance to their college admission.  Some students merely don’t test well.  Those same students are often the most creative and ingenuitive thinkers, whom I venture to guess college admissions officers would like to have on their campuses.

Most traditional academic institutions, however, are sticking by these standardized tests. Brown University’s Dean of Admissions, Jim Miller 73’, claims that the use and purpose of standardized test scores varies from school to school, saying “While we get transcripts — which are the most critical  — and teacher recommendations and essays, one of the things standardized tests does is help give us a sense of comparing apples to apples.  It’s nowhere near the most important tool, but it does add to our understanding of a student’s credentials.”  So students should rest assured that while most schools do consider test scores, they are most definitely not the most important factor. Test scores are more or less a standard basis of comparison among applicants - who would be otherwise hard to compare as courses and grading systems vary from high school to high school.  While colleges do make a point to assess academics within the context of a high school, they also use standardized test scores as a standard.

Among the schools which have not transitioned to test-optional, weight placed on test scores has actually increased.  As applicant pools grow and admission staffs do not, schools are forced to become more reliant on SAT scores as a broad basis of comparison (U.S. News). That being said, like Jim Miller noted, colleges use test scores very differently.  Stephanie Meade of The Collegiate Edge told U.S. News that “for admissions, virtually all colleges care more about good grades and challenging classes than test scores.  But many colleges, particularly those with extremely competitve admissions still care a lot about scores.  And here’s the catch: Many colleges, even test optional, use test scores to award ‘merit aid’.” It is much more plausible for small, liberal arts schools to go test optional as they can dedicate more time to each individual application.