UPenn Extends Test-Optional Policy

The University of Pennsylvania has opted to extend its test-optional admissions policy through the 2022-2023 admissions cycle. This extension, applicable to first-year applicants as well as transfer applicants, will mark the third year in a row in which the Ivy League institution will remain test-optional as the policy was first implemented during the 2020-2021 admissions cycle due to all the SAT and ACT test cancelations caused by the pandemic. But what exactly does UPenn’s test-optional admissions policy mean? Does it mean students shouldn’t submit test scores?

As David Katz reports for The Daily Pennsylvanian in a piece out today entitled “Penn extends test-optional policy to 2022-2023 admissions cycle,” “Although Penn still uses a comprehensive review process in evaluating candidates, several college counseling specialists were concerned when the policy was first implemented, saying that students applying with test scores could have an advantage with another qualification next to their name. ‘If one kid has great test scores and one kid has no test scores, all else being equal, the kid with great test scores will win every time over the kid with no test scores,’ Managing Director of Ivy Coach Brian Taylor told The Daily Pennsylvanian in October 2020.” He sure did — and he stands by this assessment.

It should come as little surprised that UPenn has opted to renew its test-optional admissions policy another year. In December 2021, Harvard University announced that it would extend its test-optional admissions policy another four years and as loyal readers of this college admissions blog know all too well, where Harvard goes the rest tend to follow. We anticipate that all highly selective universities in America will remain test-optional through the 2022-2023 admissions cycle — and beyond.