List of colleges that superscore ACT/SAT, score choice, ACT/SAT writing policies, & test optional

Test Preparation
1

Hi everyone,

New to the forum but familiar with what you all typically post about. I know many parents on this forum ask about whether a specific college superscores the ACT or SAT and sometimes it’s difficult to find this information on an institution’s website. I think many students, parents and counselors have also been wondering about how the new SAT impacts the writing requirements for the essay portion of the test. In order to help people find this information, we recently compiled standardized testing policies for many selective colleges across the country. This includes the following:

-If a college superscores the ACT and/or SAT
-If a college allows score choice
-ACT/SAT writing policy: Optional, Recommended, or Required
-If a college is test-optional or test-flexible

Below is a link to the table and if you would like for me to add a specific college, please reply to let me know which school you would like to see included.

https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/standardized-testing-policies/

Keep in mind that you can also search for test-optional schools by visiting the Fair Test website, and here is the link below to their test-optional list:

http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional

I hope everyone finds this information to be helpful!

2

very nice. Thank you.
I wonder whether colleges superscore in determining scholarship.

3

Hi @annamom, glad to hear you found this table to be helpful.

To answer your question, yes, colleges that superscore will use the higher scores when determining institutional-based aid (merit aid).

If there are any additional schools that you would like to see on our list, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

4

@HigherEdData That’s not always true regarding superscoring and merit aid. Some – granted, not many – specifically exclude scholarship programs from superscoring. University of Kentucky is one that comes to mind, but there are others.

I believe your Pepperdine and Lafayette information is incorrect. Essay requirements and superscoring have been a moving target this year.

5

what does that mean @TestRekt ? a moving target?

6

@TestRekt – I called and spoke to admissions officials at both Pepperdine and Lafayette to verify this information before we posted it online.

In regards to the superscoring and merit aid, most institutions will superscore for merit aid but yes, certain scholarship programs and/or committees may have their own policies. Nothing new there.

@manykids2000 He/she is probably referring to the fact that policies have changed a lot in the past year due to the new SAT that came out this past March. The new SAT is why many institutions no longer require the essay for the ACT and SAT. You can find these policies in our table (link above in original post).

7

@TestRekt – Here is the info on Pepperdine:

Test Score Requirement
All first-year applicants and transfer applicants with less than 30 completed units are required to submit SAT or ACT scores via an official score report from the testing agency. The Office of Admission will accept scores from the old SAT test, the new SAT test, or the ACT to meet this requirement, provided the test was taken in the last five years.
The optional ACT writing test and new SAT writing/essay section are neither required nor recommended. Essay and writing scores from these optional components will not be considered by our office. The SAT II Subject Tests are also not required.

Superscoring
The Office of Admission will superscore the old and new SAT separately, meaning our office will combine the highest section scores from each test date to create the highest total per test. However, we will not combine old and new SAT section scores, as these two tests are scaled differently. It is therefore to your advantage to send our office the results from each time you took the SAT. We do not superscore the ACT.

http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/admission/application/undergraduate/requirements/new-sat.htm

I’ll be sure to double-check on Lafayette as well. As you mentioned, these requirements have been a moving target. Thanks for checking out our table and if you want us to add any schools, feel free to list them. Thanks!

8

@HigherEdData I agreed with @TestRekt that not all colleges superscore for the purpose of merit scholarship…I recalled hearing it during an info session, but I forgot which college it was, hence it was my question to you. I knew you said nothing new, but the question becomes which colleges do not superscore for the purpose of merit scholarship…If you do contact the colleges to compile the data, it may be helpful to add the extra question… Anyway, thanks for sharing the effort.

9

@annamom @TestRekt Yes, we can see how that would vary between scholarship committees at individual institutions so we’ll probably hold off creating a separate column for that. Students and parents will need to do their homework when applying for institutional-based merit aid. But as I said before, most schools (if they superscore) will also do so for merit aid consideration. I should have clarified this in my original response to your first question, and that was my mistake.

Thanks for the positive feedback.

10

While I understand that each school has their own policies on SAT and ACT scores, I have yet to hear a good explanation as to why a given school chooses to superscore the SAT and not the ACT - seems more common than not. In my opinion, it appears that those schools have a a SAT bias but interested in hearing your thoughts.

11

Superscoring of the SAT and not the ACT has been applied by many colleges because long ago, not long after superscoring began to be used, the College Board (SAT) took a neutral position on whether it was proper, but ACT informed colleges it was against superscoring because it believed doing so did not result in an accurate test score to be used for determining admission. That coupled with the fact that the ACT has always required a separate order and fee for sending each test (while SAT sends all test for one order and one fee), resulted in many not adopting superscoring for the ACT. Of course, many over the years have adopted it for ACT but the number still stays well below those that have done so for SAT.

As to the links to the lists provided by the OP, they are nice to have but someone needs to check at least the College Transitions list for accuracy. My quick look notes that the list claims that Amherst, Lafayette, and Washington and Lee are anti-score choice and require all scores. As far as I am aware those allow score choice and have never been anti-score choice. Also, it claims Syracuse allows score choice but it actually requires all SAT scores. Also, numerous colleges that do not require any test scores are in the list and the list claims those superscore the SAT and some of them also the ACT. I have doubts that is correct for every one those: why would a college that does not even require test scores bother to superscore tests submitted?

12

@drusba Thanks for your post. As @TestRekt mentioned previously, this has become a moving target with schools changing policies as a result of the new SAT. The new SAT is also one of the primary reasons why many schools have decided to go optional on the essay portion of the ACT and SAT.

Our staff verified all information within the table listed on our website by speaking with an admissions counselor at each institution and by visiting each college’s website. Could an admissions counselor have given the wrong information over the phone? Given the number of schools that have changed policies over the past year, this certainly seems likely. We’ve also witnessed how several selective institutions have dropped Subject Test requirements for this year’s admission cycle. As always, we’ll continue to monitor our information and update the table as new information becomes available.

As for the testing policies at the schools you mentioned in your post, we spoke to an admissions counselor at each of those four institutions. Amherst, Lafayette, and Washington and Lee each indicated that they do not allow score choice. Syracuse University responded to us by saying they do participate in score choice.

Please see the following links for more information:

Amherst - https://www.amherst.edu/admission/apply/firstyear

Lafayette - https://admissions.lafayette.edu/first-year-applicants/

Syracuse - http://admissions.syr.edu/apply/firstyearrequirements/

Washington and Lee - https://www.wlu.edu/admissions/apply/the-applicant-review-process

If a college did not provide all information on their website, we verified this information by speaking with an admissions representative over the phone.

To answer your question about test-optional schools and superscoring, the overwhelming majority of test-optional institutions that we spoke with superscore for students who submit multiple score reports. For example, Anges Scott superscores for the SAT but they do not superscore for the ACT.

Bates, another test-optional college, superscores for both the ACT and SAT.

It is worth nothing that certain test-optional schools do not superscore for either test. Brandeis and Ithaca are good examples.

We spent a lot of time visiting websites and calling each college to verify these policies, and we hope this information proves to be helpful to students and parents. Thanks again.

13

Your Amherst link says Amherst “recommends” (not requires) sending all scores. Many colleges recommend sending all scores because they superscore but that does not mean the college prohibits score choice. The Lafayette link says nothing about requiring all scores, and nothing on its site says it does (how can a college “require” something and not even tell anyone about it). Washington and Lee likewise. You say your organization was orally informed of those schools’ anti-score choice positions but as far as I am aware, they have never publicly stated that position, and appear to have told the College Board the opposite for preparation of its list. Syracuse actually says on its site that all scores are required http://admissions.syr.edu/apply/whatwelookfor/ It thus appears misleading to tell applicants a college accepts or does not accept score choice when the information actually publicly available to applicants says otherwise.

For test optional schools that may superscore, are they really telling you what they are doing now or what they did before they became test optional? Perhaps someone internally is just assuming it is a continuing practice. There does not appear to be a reason to continue superscoring if a college no longer requires test scores since test scores no longer have a high level of importance in deciding admission. Continuing to superscore implies the college may be fibbiing when when it says tests are optional becuase it still considers it very important how high your test score is.

14

@drusba – Thanks again for your post. We really do appreciate you bringing this to our attention! We were told by an admissions counselor at Syracuse University that they allow students to participate in score choice. While the link you included does indicate that they do not allow score choice, Syracuse does not provide that information on their first-year applicant page and unless a student or parent visits the page you referenced, they’ll most likely miss this information. We just called Syracuse to confirm this information and the person we spoke to indicated that Syracuse does not participate in score choice. As a result, we’ll definitely change this information on our website. The counselor we spoke to also said there are several new counselors and that we were given the incorrect information. I’m sure you can see how this can easily happen. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix for us and we thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I can’t speak on behalf of Lafayette and Washington and Lee and why they choose to give only certain information on their website. We see some college admission websites that do a great job of listing all requirements, while others are very vague and seem to create confusion. We’re merely trying to take a lot of information and provide it in one place where students and parents can access the info they need.

And yes, most colleges that are test-optional still consider tests to be very important.

Thank you, @drusba. Please feel free to let us know if you see other institutions that may have provided incorrect information. We’ll do our best to update that info as soon as possible.

15

I’m not quite sure why anyone would trust a “list”. I can see how a list is helpful to give you an idea of which colleges do what.

But putting your trust and ultimately college application decisions on any list that becomes outdated as soon as the sun rises is foolish.

Prospective applicants should go straight to the source. Visit the college website, then follow up with a call. Not verifying is how students get into a mess.

As ^ pointed out, “recommends” and “required” are totally different. Play it safe. Verify directly.

16

@mmk2015 – Absolutely. It’s always best for the applicant/family/counselor to confirm all information before submitting the application. As more and more colleges go test-optional, a lot of this information will change from year to year. We’re certainly going to do our best to provide updates along the way but parents and students need to always double check with the colleges to which they’re applying.