<p>Sally,
I’m glad you put in to words what I’ve always suspected. For the schools where the submission of test scores is “optional” I’ve always thought that the readers of the applications took for granted that the reason a student did not submit scores was because the scores were not good. After all, a student with scores high relative to those reported by the school would certainly want them to be considered !</p>
<p>I’ve always thought that score choice served the schools’ best interests in two ways:</p>
<p>1) a score-optional policy “raises” the schools academic profile, making it look more selective, because with only “good” scores being submitted by applicants the average scores are obviously higher; and</p>
<p>2)by attracting a broader range of applicants it lets the school mold its class in ways it could not–for example, by attracting more athletes or urms, etc.–whatever the perceived need of the school is at some point in time,</p>