Our Dare to Test-Optional Colleges
All of the Ivy League schools went “test-optional” this year. So too did many other elite universities across America. Due to all the test cancelations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, these schools largely had no choice but to temporarily not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores. But as our loyal readers know oh so well, “test-optional” policies don’t mean all that much. All else being equal, so long as students are allowed to submit test scores, students with great scores will always have an advantage over students who don’t submit test scores. It’s a line we’ve said time and again on the pages of this college admissions blog. Yet there are — we fully acknowledge — admissions officers and high school counselors on their high horses, private college counselors, and other folks who just like to voice their opinions who disagree with us.
If “Test-Optional” Universities Are Telling It Like It Is, Release The Numbers at the End of the Cycle
It’s why we issue this dare today on this 30th day of October. We hereby dare each and every college that went test-optional this year to release at the end of the Early Decision / Early Action and Regular Decision cycles extensive admissions statistics that detail the percentage of students who did and did not submit scores, the percentage of students who earned admission with scores, and the percentage of students who earned admission who did not submit scores. We believe these two numbers will tell the full and complete story.
These Universities Aren’t Going to Release the Numbers
Ivy Coach has a famously accurate crystal ball. It’s a crystal ball that’s been cited on the pages of America’s oldest college newspaper. Our crystal ball hereby forecasts that no Ivy League school will publicly release the percentage of students who earned admission who submitted scores and the percentage of students who did not submit scores. Our crystal ball also hereby forecasts that no other highly selective university — not even Georgetown University, which has a history of releasing extensive admissions statistics — will release these scores. And why? Because the numbers will show in no uncertain terms that “test-optional” is an absolutely meaningless policy, one that isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
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3 Comments
I couldn’t have said it more succinctly myself.
UPenn released them though. So much for Ivy Coach’s Crystal ball 🙁
Not so fast. We want to see the percentage of students who were admitted who did and did not submit scores along with the percentage of students deferred/denied who did and did not submit scores. Don’t confuse our enthusiasm for UPenn releasing any data at all (as compared to other schools) with an incorrect crystal ball forecast. We acknowledge when our crystal ball forecasts admissions trends incorrectly. This is not one of those instances.