Choo choo! Brown is hopping on the test-optional train. Finally. We’ll see if Stanford hops on and joins its other high-achieving friends who have climbed aboard over the last few weeks. Stops in Hanover, Cambridge, New York, New Haven, Ithaca, Philadelphia, Princeton, and now Providence have all been fruitful. Brown is, we’re sure, thrilled to join the party.
Psyche. This is a very bizarre and unexpected year in admissions, and we have a feeling that these schools are in for a complicated treat come application review time! The good news is: that’s why we’re here -- to help guide you through this upcoming season.
But first, let’s investigate how Brown’s test-optional policy measures up to those of its friends. Words matter here! Brown states (important sentences underlined):
While we cannot change the realities of these unprecedented circumstances, we can change our admission policy to address the challenges with which we are confronted. For first-year applicants in the 2020-21 admission cycle, Brown is now test optional. This change is for the 2020-21 academic year only.
Students who are unable to submit SAT or ACT scores this year due to COVID-19 will not be disadvantaged in our admission process. If this describes your situation, please know that your application will receive full consideration by our admission committee. We will continue to review test scores that are submitted, and will also bear in mind that those who do submit scores may not have been able to take the SAT or ACT more than once. There will be an opportunity within the Common Application to share with us how you may have been affected by the events of this year, including telling us how your testing plans were disrupted.
It is important to note that, while standardized testing has long been a component of our holistic admission process, it has always been one among many components that we consider. Testing can be informative, but is only one part of a much larger and more important story about an individual applicant. The SAT or ACT, when submitted, will continue to be considered in the context of all the other information we have about a candidate, and is one of multiple ways in which students may show preparedness for the rigors of Brown. For students who are not able to submit scores this year, we will look to other components of the application, from course grades and curricular rigor to insight from counselors and teachers, to assess academic preparation.
This year has been one of upheaval and uncertainty, and we hope that adopting a test optional policy for the 2020-21 admission cycle will better enable students to prioritize their health and well-being, and that of their families, as the summer and fall continue to unfold.
Okay. There are a lot of words here, but no real new ideas. Leave it to Brown to explicitly ask students to take this “free time” that they are being so generously given by Brown to “prioritize their health and well-being.” Thank you for your permission, Brown! We really hope you’ve been doing that anyways. We digress.
Brown is communicating a message very similar to that of its Ivy League friends by saying that if you do submit test scores, they will be considered. And more importantly, that they’ve historically been weighted as an important part of the entire review process. So, while Brown assures applicants that those who do not submit test scores will not be disadvantaged, it’s safe to say that should the opposite be true -- that you can submit scores -- that strong scores will continue to work to your advantage.
If you’re unable, then the rest of the application matters even more. It means that your recommendations, your essay, your Activities section, and your supplements are going to be under an even higher grade microscope (check back in August for Brown’s 2020-2021 supplement breakdown).
Obviously, we don’t think that you should be taking standardized tests if it risks compromising you or your family’s health and well-being (that’s true regardless of the state of public health in the U.S.). But if possible, we still encourage students to try to sit for an SAT/ACT and to do so after studying with a strong expected outcome.
The reality is that most of the time, students who are able to avail themselves of the many resources at their fingertips to excel on these exams (test prep, private tutors, extended studying periods) will be, on the whole, less impacted by COVID-19 (both financially and physically) in a long-term way anyways. So this message isn’t as much for them. It’s more for communities who are vulnerable and who face challenges in achieving competitive scores on standardized testing both with and without COVID-19 acting as a forcing mechanism.
This pandemic has highlighted the racial and socioeconomic divides that underline every process and system of which we are a part. The college application and higher education systems are no exception. Division and exclusion are hallmarks of these systems, and standardized testing requirements are one cog that makes them run smoothly. Unfortunately, test scores are not objective data -- plain and simple. Those who have access to resources do better on these exams. Those who do not, do worse. It’s not a level playing field.
We are hopeful (but not optimistic) that colleges will take this pause and application cycle to really assess the usefulness of standardized testing.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or thoughts on your college application -- we want to help.