"To Test or Not to Test"… Your Admissions Strategy & Test-Optional Schools 2024
If you keep up with education news, you’ll know that Dartmouth College has recently announced the reinstatement of the SAT and ACT requirement for undergraduate applicants, starting with the class of 2029.
This decision marks a significant shift as it is the first Ivy League school to reverse its "test-optional" policy implemented at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not just lofty schools such as Dartmouth and MIT that have reintroduced these tests. The University of Tennessee and University of Georgia systems have also brought back testing for all their state colleges.
Dartmouth’s move has drawn attention to the role of standardized tests in the college admissions process, with a focus on their ability to identify potential in students and predict academic success. The decision to reinstate the testing requirement was informed by an internal study conducted by Dartmouth economists and a sociologist, which found that test scores were a better predictor of academic performance than high school grades, student essays, and teacher recommendations. Significantly, there are also studies that suggest the opposite: that high school grades are a better predictor of college performance than the ACT or SAT.
Who’s right?
It’s hard to say. In the past, high school grades were a good indicator of college performance. Now, however, U.S. high school grades are so inflated that from 2010 to 2022, the average adjusted GPA increased from 3.17 to 3.39 in English; from 3.02 to 3.32 in Math; from 3.28 to 3.46 in Social Studies; and from 3.12 to 3.36 in Science. In 2022, more than 89% of high schoolers received an A or B in Math, English, Social Studies, and Science. If every reasonably hard-working high school graduate has a 3.9 GPA, it’s difficult for colleges to use GPA as a meaningful admissions criterion.
At the same time, SATs and ACTs are also imperfect. Students who hire private tutors and take the tests three, four, or five times can perform much better than students who can’t afford tutoring or multiple test fees. So there is a reasonable fear that standardized tests favor students with more money.
It’s also the case that while test-optional schools promise that not submitting a test is not a disadvantage, there is a significant correlation between turning in scores and being admitted. At Ivy League schools, for example, during the test optional era, only about half of applicants are turning in test scores, but about 80% of students who are accepted did turn in their scores. That’s not necessarily a surprise as students with high scores are likely to be better students overall, but the correlation between submitted scores and acceptances is hard to ignore.
My best guess is that the most elite schools will gradually return to the standardized testing models, while less selective schools might retain their test optional policies.
The good news is that you and I don’t have to decide who’s right in this debate.
If you’re a high school student, all you have to do is to decide whether to take the tests, and at this point, the answer is pretty clearly “yes.” We don’t know which schools are going to remain test optional over the next few years. When Georgia brought the requirement back, for example, students were already in application season and some had to schedule a last minute test to apply.
If you take the tests and you aren’t happy with your score, then if your schools are test optional, you don’t have to submit. If your school does require the scores, or switches over to require them halfway through your admissions cycle, then you’ll have something to submit.
The best, most ambitious testing strategy is to take both tests sometime in the spring of junior year (before that you may not have covered all the tested material in your courses), see which one you’re best at (on which test you achieve the highest percentile), and then prep for that test. As you probably know, the SAT is going digital and dropping from three hours to two. If you’re using a book to prep, you need to make sure that it’s designed for the new SAT and not the old one. ACT materials should be reasonably up-to-date from the past few years.
The SAT and ACT are flawed tests being used within a flawed system. Nevertheless, you need to take them, take them seriously, and take them multiple times in some situations. How do you know which scores to submit, whether you need to take more tests, what to write about on essays, and which schools to apply to? Work with me or another qualified educational consultant. We can help you assemble a well-rounded and thoughtful college list, strategize about standardized tests, work on essays with you, and guide you through this confusing yet extremely important process.
Who can help you in your quest for admission to top U.S. colleges? Fortunately for you, I know a guy. Call today (+1 888 997 4945), or browse my website and fill out an interest form. Let’s have a chat about what I can do to help you craft your best possible college application!