Over 1,600 colleges now test optional due to pandemic

by Jackson Schroeder ‘21

“So, what test score do I need to get into that school?” This fall, no seniors are asking that question. Many of them are no longer worried about sending their standardized admissions test scores to colleges.

For years, the SAT, along with its fast-paced cousin, the ACT, have reigned supreme as a college’s measure of intelligence.

But in 2019, the coronavirus pandemic hit. As of Sept. 25, 1,600 colleges were test optional: they’ll take a student’s test score into account if submitted, but there’s no penalty for students who choose not to submit their scores.

University of Massachusetts’ Amherst’s admissions officer Mike Drish described why the school is now test-optional. 

“We wanted to do whatever we could to minimize barriers caused by the disruptions from the pandemic,” he said in an interview with online journal Edsurge.

CGS students mostly feel positively about test-optional schools.

Senior Lizzy Cook thinks it’s a step in the right direction. “[The SAT and ACT] are unfair tests. People who have money can pay for tutoring.” 

In addition to tutoring, a CNBC article also cited the ability to take multiple tests and access to better academic support as advantages to wealthy test-takers.

Senior Josh Negreanu agrees, calling the SAT “useless.” He added, “The score shows colleges how good you are at taking tests.”

Senior Julia Druker appreciates the change. “All of my schools except for one are test-optional now, so that’s been nice,” she said. 

Druker was among a handful of students to take the SAT in December of 2019. 

“I am not submitting to any except for one of my schools because my score is above average for that school. For all the others, my application looks better without it,” she said.

Negreanu and fellow senior Sean Uan-Zoli took the August SAT in Boise, fueled by Negreanu’s desire to “improve myself to colleges,” and Uan-Zoli wanting to “put my summer studying to good use.” 

Negreanu said he will most likely end up submitting his scores because “it doesn't hurt,” and Uan-Zoli joked in an interview over text message that he was submitting “because they are the strongest part of my application,” 

Looking forward, junior Ava Yu worries about what this new policy will mean for the other aspects of her future application. 

“Now that tests are optional for a lot of colleges, GPA will be more of a determining factor in the college admission process,” she said.

However, CGS College Counselor William Ouelette denies this theory, saying colleges “have always paid more attention to transcript than tests. That’s not changing now.”

He also hypothesized a different future of college admissions. 

“Like when a hurricane rips through a town, and you have to rebuild, you’re forced to think about what you needed and what you didn't,” said Ouellette.This rebuilding has already started: the University of California system will be test-blind by Fall 2023, meaning test scores won’t impact admissions decisions at all.

The UC will then attempt to “create a new test that better aligns with the content the University expects students to have mastered for college readiness.” However, if the University doesn't finalize this “new test” by 2025? They will “eliminate altogether its standardized testing requirement for California freshman admissions.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, says, “This will quite possibly lead other public universities to say, ‘Well if the U.C. can do without it, why do we still need it?’”

To the classes of 2023 and beyond: your testing future remains uncertain.