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Dartmouth + Yale End Test-Optional: What Does it Mean?

In the last few weeks, both Dartmouth and Yale have decided to end the test-optional policies they adopted during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. The idea behind making schools test-optional in the first place was to accommodate students who suddenly found themselves unable to take the ACT or SAT because, well, everything was shut down. While some more progressive schools had adopted test-optional policies years (sometimes decades) prior, the first school of the Ivy League to adopt their own test-optional policy was Cornell, and all the other Ivies (and Ivy-adjacent top-tier schools) quickly followed.

Making a College List without Test Scores

College lists are hard to make in the first place – you have to take into account everything from your personality, to the location, to the culture, to the size. Then on top of that you have to look at your grades, extracurriculars, and standardized test scores to see where you fit in. Then you have to see which schools would be safeties, targets, or reach schools and how to create the most balanced list that takes all of this into account. “But wait,” you say, “I don’t have my standardized test scores. How can I even begin to make a college list?”

Ivy League Test-Optional Policy

The Ivy League has gone test-optional for 2022-2023. UPenn, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Yale have extended all extended their policies for 2023. Columbia and Cornell have extended their policies through 2024. Harvard has extended even further to 2026. Since extending test-optional policies is the hot trend for top colleges, let’s talk about it.

UPenn Test-Optional Policy

Test-optional has been a word that every college counselor has heard over and over for the last two years. The pandemic has led many colleges to adopt a test-optional policy as it has been hard for some communities to access testing. While going to the test-optional model has been a huge trend, some schools have been test-optional outside of the pandemic. Being test-optional/no-testing has worked outside of the pandemic for schools like Bennington College, Wesleyan, Wake Forest, etc. and as colleges keep extending their test-optional policies, we may see more schools adopt the policy even as the pandemic hopefully fades away.

Best Test Optional Colleges 2021

In light of Covid-19, we saw all colleges put test-optional policies in place for the class of 2025. For those that are looking ahead to next year, this blog post is meant to highlight schools that will still be test-optional. We’ll update our blog when more information comes out about whether or not additional schools will extend their test-optional policies for the class of 2026 and beyond.

Yale is Test-Optional for 2020-2021 because of Coronavirus/COVID-19

Here we go. Yale is officially waiving their SAT and ACT requirements for applicants to the class of 2025. It isn’t entirely surprising, given the fact that every other Ivy League has now announced that applicants are not required to submit testing with their applications if they so choose. Even so, it’s a big year for many reasons and it’s worth taking a bit of a closer look into Yale’s specific policy’s wording.

Princeton is Test-Optional for 2020-2021 because of Coronavirus/COVID-19

Welcome, Princeton. Your bros let you sleep in and you missed the bus, but you got an Uber so you’re only a few days late. Princeton announced that they are joining the rest of their “Ivy League, etc.” friends in going test-optional for this upcoming 2020-2021 application cycle. Plus...TWIST...they’re getting rid of their single-choice early action option and moving to one collective Jan. 1 regular decision deadline/application option.

Brown University is Test-Optional for 2020-2021 because of Coronavirus/COVID-19

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.

UPenn is Test-Optional for 2020-2021 because of Coronavirus/COVID-19

In a quick one-two-three punch, UPenn joined Columbia and Dartmouth on June 4th in announcing that they would become test-optional for the next year, in response to the College Board’s announcement that they will not be pursuing an online SAT option. While not surprising, as UPenn announced in mid-May that they were shifting their policy on SAT Subject Tests from recommended to “optional,” (along with Brown) we want to dive into what this further step means for applicants.

Columbia University is Test Optional for 2020-2021 because of Coronavirus/COVID-19

Columbia released its revised testing policy for the 2020-2021 application season. They’re joining the ranks of hundreds of other schools, and, as of this writing, three other Ivies (Cornell, Dartmouth, and UPenn) in the removal of their testing requirement. Applicants are no longer required to submit their SAT or ACT score with their application. This is a big deal, sure, but we also want to contextualize the policy for you so that you can assess what it means.

Colleges Should Become Test-Optional During the Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic

Standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT are not fortune-telling devices. We know this. Standardized tests do an okay job, at best, measuring what a student can remember in a given moment under a particular set of testing conditions. However, the ability of the SAT or ACT to measure academic potential is very much in question. We know that these tests do not show what students are capable of achieving when they have access to the time and resources necessary to succeed.

Cornell University is Test-Optional because of Coronavirus/COVID-19

While many schools--including many highly competitive institutions like Williams, Amherst, and Tufts--have announced that they will be test-optional for the 2020-2021 application season, the Ivies were staying silent on the matter. Until Wednesday, when Cornell announced that they were following suit. This is big news. But what does it all mean?! How do we contextualize this? Here are our thoughts:

Will Colleges become Test-Optional in Response to the Coronavirus?

As college counselors scramble to advise their students on what to do while schools are out, high school juniors are struggling to navigate a college admissions process gone haywire. Typically, this time of year, we are encouraging our clients to finish their college visits, to prep for their first or even second shot at the SAT or ACT, and to drive their grades up as high as they can before the end of the school year. But this year isn’t typical. College visits have gone virtual, classes have gone online too, and the entire standardized testing system is in question.

Best Test Optional Universities 2019-2020

While many schools still believe that SAT and ACT test scores are an important metric for evaluation, more and more universities are becoming test optional. Students can submit their scores if they want, but not doing so will not affect the evaluation of their application. Here’s a list of some of the top national universities that are test optional, which we created from a data set released on May 9th of 2019. There are additional schools on this list, but we selected the below based on interest from our client base. 

The Best Test Optional Liberal Arts Schools 2019

Standardized testing is a heavily debated topic and in recent years, more and more schools have become test optional. This means that you can submit your scores should you decide to, but not submitting them won’t affect your chances of getting in. This list is not exhaustive, but instead focuses on the top liberal arts schools that our clients and readers most commonly apply to. We created our list from a data set that was updated on May 9th of 2019.  

Why Did the University of Chicago Become Test-Optional?

You might have read or heard about University of Chicago’s announcement that the school is dropping the ACT/SAT requirement of its application. Previously, it was required that all applicants sit for the SAT or ACT and include the scores on their application to the university. Now, University of Chicago has gone “test-optional” along with numerous other top-tier institutions.