New research suggests 2024 could be the year when more top colleges consider restoring the SAT/ACT requirement as one of the factors used to identify qualified students when building a strong incoming class.
This potential shift reflects new research and understanding on the part of universities as they evaluate more closely whether the test optional movement is accomplishing what it was intended to do. In particular, while making testing optional was initially considered a progressive victory, particularly after its expansion in the wake of the pandemic, the reality may not be so simple.
David Leonhardt’s article, “The Misguided War on the SAT,” published recently in The New York Times, explains that when it comes to data based on real students and real outcomes, test-optional policies can actually undermine some diversity initiatives. For example, according to Stuart Schmill, MIT’s Dean of Admissions, “Once we brought the test requirement back, we admitted the most diverse class that we ever had in our history.”
If other top universities seek to emulate MIT’s experience, especially in the wake of last summer’s gutting of affirmative action, we may begin to see the pendulum swing back toward restoring test requirements.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Image)
Data on Test Scores and Academic Performance
In early January, researchers at Dartmouth and Brown released data on standardized test scores and academic performance. Deeper understanding of the implications of test-optional policies seems to support the case for testing to attract better prepared students from a broader range of backgrounds for the following reasons:
Finding #1: Students with higher SAT/ACT scores are more likely to have higher college GPAs than their peers with lower scores.
Though test scores show some bias toward affluent students, that bias was less pronounced than that of many other parts of the college application process, like extracurricular activities, college essays, and teacher recommendations.
For many college advisors and admissions officers, this makes sense. Many applicants come from high schools where teachers haven’t been trained on how to write strong recommendation letters and students don’t receive coaching on how to build a profile or approach the personal statement. For those students, a high SAT or ACT score can be the data point that showcases their high potential for success.
Finding #2: High school GPA is a poor predictor of academic success in college.
Because of grade inflation, many college admissions officers struggle to determine the value of straight-As across thousands of unique high schools. Standardized test scores, therefore, can offer a more reliable indicator of subject knowledge and academic ability.
Finding #3: Students from different socioeconomic backgrounds who have comparable SAT/ACT scores receive similar grades in college.
For students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, standardized test scores can be a lifeline to selective colleges. When a student’s high school is less well known (which is often the case for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds), strong scores can give confidence to admissions officers about a student’s ability to succeed at their university.
To sum it up:
“Top-tier colleges can attract a more diverse student body, and create more upward mobility, by prioritizing admissions for academically prepared students from a broader range of backgrounds.”
So where does this leave us?
Many universities continue to struggle with what to do, leading most to take a ‘wait and see’ approach to extending test-optional policies beyond the 2023-24 season.
In the meantime, we’ve written about the value of testing before, and continue to advise LP students that test scores can be additive to their applications as one more impactful data point. Then, when the time comes to apply, students can decide whether to submit—a choice that may, and often does, vary on a school-by-school basis.