have read online that colleges go test-optional in part so that the scores of the lowest-scoring applicants are not included in the college’s average ACT/SAT scores. This would give the college a higher average score, which would help bolster the college’s ranking. DC’s guidance counselor says this is not true. Guidance counselor cites a test-optional college she worked at where the scores of all applicants were calculated in the averages. She also tells me that a student at DC’s school was just accepted at another test-optional college without submitting test scores and that student is now being asked for scores. I have read that some athletic conferences require colleges to report scores of all students, but I find it hard to believe that all test-optional schools would collect scores of accepted students who had not submitted scores as part of their applications. This is important to me because my DC has a learning disability and low scores, and we have been using the average scores as a kind of gauge to see if DC could be admitted/ successful at particular colleges. I am thinking that if the scores are artificially inflated, then we shouldn’t place as much weight on them. Does anybody know anything about this?
If you go to the school’s Common Data Set (CDS; section C9) (most schools post them online) you can see the actual percentage of students who submitted each of the two tests and the 25/75th percentiles.
Yes, some schools that are test-optional for admissions still require test scores to be submitted so that they have the ‘data’.
@ WhataProcess, So, the Common Data Set section C9 says: “include information for ALL enrolled, degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted test scores”. For the college I looked at, this means only students who submitted test scores would be included in the data. Would the Common Data Set data be different for different colleges?
A reasonable assumption is that, at a test optional college with otherwise competitive admission, the students submitting test scores are those with better test scores. I.e. those with worse test scores do not submit them to test optional colleges that they apply to.
@ucbalumnus I get that. My question is: is the guidance counselor correct in saying that the lower test scores are included in averages for the college? I don’t even see how that can happen, unless, as the guidance counselor tells me in one case, the college asks the student to submit the scores after he has been admitted.
Many schools use the tests to determine what level math/English a student should begin with. So, I could definitely see schools making test optional for admissions then requiring admitted students to submit them for placement.