All Haverford students, faculty, and staff can attest to the fact that COVID-19 had a profound effect on our community.
When COVID-19 disrupted access to SAT and ACT testing, many colleges that had previously required standardized tests adopted test-optional policies. The shift raised a larger question: Would test-optional admissions last?
In recent years, several highly selective colleges and universities have reinstated standardized testing requirements. Admissions officers consider several parts of a student’s application, including the high school transcript, extracurricular activities, essays, letters of recommendation, and, when required or submitted, SAT or ACT scores.
College Counselor Mr. Jeremy Branch said students should develop as well-rounded an application as possible, one that answers as many questions as college admissions officers might have. Mr. Branch said strong high school grades do not always allow colleges to compare applicants directly because grading standards and student populations vary among schools. In his view, standardized test scores can provide colleges with another point of comparison.
If you’re only admitting seven percent of your applicant pool, and most of those students applying are pretty highly qualified, then how do they parse through those highly-qualified applicants?”
MR. JEREMY BRANCH
Mr. Branch also views standardized testing as one area of the application process less affected by AI. “Students can use [AI] for their essays. Students can use it to enhance their performance in the classroom. But the one thing that you really can’t leverage AI for right now is taking the SAT or ACT.”
Among the universities that returned quickest to test-requiring admissions were elite institutions such as MIT, the service academies, and most of the Ivy League. “If you’re only admitting seven percent of your applicant pool, and most of those students applying are pretty highly qualified, then how do they parse through those highly-qualified applicants?” Mr. Branch said. “To certain test-required schools, having the SAT as another data point is essential for this process.”
At under-resourced high schools, some students have not been taught everything on the SAT, particularly certain concepts in the math section. While the SAT is designed so that students, even from these under-resourced schools, know all the concepts, there are certain things in the harder math modules that these students may not have been exposed to yet.
Some colleges embraced test-optional admissions long before the pandemic, many of which believe that there are ways to assess a candidate well without the SAT. Mr. Branch said colleges can still learn a great deal about applicants without standardized test scores: “Having worked in admissions for sixteen years, students give admissions officers so much more information through their application that many of these admissions officers do not need SAT scores.”
Mr. Branch said other parts of the application remain essential regardless of whether a student submits standardized test scores. “[College admissions officers] get to hear from two teachers—usually in two different disciplines—who have observed your work ethic, the way you work with others, the way you attack your tests and quizzes, the way you complete assignments, and even the way that you think,” Mr. Branch said.
Standardized test scores also provide little information about an applicant’s character or relationships with others.
Some students also struggle with standardized tests despite performing well in other parts of their application. However, students applying to test-required institutions may still need to submit scores regardless of whether standardized testing is one of their strengths.
For these students, Mr. Branch said, “If you are not a great test-taker, it is crucial to do some test prep. However, if you cannot get the score that you were aiming for after preparing a lot, then it is important to talk to your college counselor and see whether you want to pivot.”
Students, their families, and their counselors will need to continue to work in tandem to adapt to changing test policies in order to ensure the best outcome for each student.
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