It’s a table showing average admission stats for applicants and enrollees at 13 test optional colleges. Test optional applicants had lower average scores than test submitter applicants, as one might expect. Applicants who have lower scores are less likely to choose to submit scores than applicants who have higher scores. However, test optional applicants also had lower average HS GPAs than test submitter applicants. Applicants with lower scores were also more likely to have lower HS GPAs, as the 2 are correlated.
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Are there proprietary rights associated with this or is there some other reason why we can’t access the study? I guess I’m asking, is whether this is published somewhere?
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This isn’t true in all cases - I have one of ‘those’ students – high GPA/ not great ACT. In-depth, strong EC.
Some people really don’t test particularly well on multiple choice exams but do really well with the written word, or hands on application.
Do some subpar applicants have poor overall applications? Well of course. But it’s not across the board.
Also – some colleges are test blind (thinking California publics?). They don’t take tests at all (and some haven’t for years even before Covid). Some of those colleges are pretty selective.
Editing to add: My own two cents → If colleges want scores, then they should ask for them. If you say test-optional -then buy into that concept.
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Also, I’m thinking that if you are a highly selective college on either side of the continental United States and you have made it one of your priorities to expand your enrollment to include public school graduates in red states (which have some of the lowest test scores in the country) that it shouldn’t be that difficult to find valedictorians with relatively high GPAs compared to their cohorts but who don’t - or can’t - polish their scores with test prep coaches. Maybe this forum has a somewhat self-selected sample pool, but when I read posts from students wishing to know whether they should report their scores, it’s more likely they are worried about a pair of 700s than a pair of 600s on the SATs.
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Were all those GPAs re-calculated in the same way? So weighted/unweighted, core courses only, etc? If not, taking them from transcripts would be…misleading at best. Many highly rejective colleges do not recalculate GPAs, whether for admissions or the CDS. And the ones that do…may do it differently. Do you have the source link?
This is what we were told consistently by admissions this year. W&L I believe even had a graphic that showed the GPA difference between submitters and non-submitters.
S25 has a 4.0/4.35 GPA with 10 APs and decided not to retake his mid 1300s SAT. We were told consistently that unless his score was above 1500 it would be to his detriment to submit. So he didn’t submit and so far it has been a good decision. I’ll update when all decisions are in.
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https://nacacnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/defining-access-report-2018.pdf – It’s an 85 page report. I copied the relevant table, rather than referencing the full doc.
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I think the operative words here are applicants versus matriculants. I freely admit to conflating the two when discussing admissions statistics. With that in mind I think I speak for all of us when I say we await your child’s results with much anticipation. 
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What appears in the figures is a change in reporting standards, from 98% for the SAT plus ACT for 2015 to 78% for the SAT plus ACT for 2016, and the consequent impact on the score profiles reported. By showing six years of information for Bowdoin, the point of demarcation for reporting standards may appear clearer:
Year | Percent Submitting SAT or ACT
2013 | 80%
2014 | 74%
2015 | 78%
2016 | 98%
2017 | 105%
2018 | 106%
For the years 2016 to 2018 the number of matriculated students who initially reported scores may have been similar to the 2013 to 2015 range shown above.
A list is below for the selective colleges in the original post. Low = (25th Math SAT + 25th EBRW SAT)/2. High = (75th Math SAT + 75th EBRW SAT)/2
New Test Optional Colleges: 2019 SAT → 2023 SAT
Median: 30-50% Submit Rate: 680-760 → 715-775
New Test Optional Colleges: 2019 SAT → 2023 SAT
Northeastern – 31% Submitting: 695-770 → 730-775
Babson – 32% Submitting: 635-725 → 690-750
Boston U – 33% Submitting: 670-755 → 700-760
Vassar – 34% Submitting: 685-760 → 715-765
Colgate – 34% Submitting: 665-750 → 740-785
NYU – 34% Submitting: 675-765 → 717-775
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Before COVID-19, UCs in California were test-required, although tests were not weighted as heavily as at many other schools. CSUs were technically test-optional, but for any campus or major which did not have capacity to admit all applicants meeting the GPA that was admissible with the lowest possible test score, applicants pretty much had to send test scores.
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Along the same lines as post above with SAT score changes, the colleges with highest reported test scores in 2023 were as follows. Most of the highest reported test score colleges were also on the list of colleges with highest % submitting, rather than lowest % submitting.
Highest Reported Test Scores in 2023: IPEDS
1 . MIT: Med = 1550 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1510-1580 / 34-36, Submitting = 83%/31%
2. JHU: Med = 1550 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1530-1580 / 34-35, Submitting = 41%/14%
3. Harvard: Med = 1550 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1500-1580 / 34-36, Submitting = 52%/22%
4. Rice: Med = 1550 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1500-1570 / 34-36, Submitting = 50%/22%
5. Stanford: Med = 1550 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1510-1580 / 34-35, Submitting = 47%/22%
6. Chicago: Med = 1550 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1510-1570 / 34-35, Submitting = 46%/30%
7. Brown: Med = 1540 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1500-1570 / 34-35, Submitting = 54%/24%
8. Penn: Med = 1540 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1500-1570 / 34-35, Submitting = 51%/19%
9. CMU: Med = 1540 SAT / 35 ACT, Range = 1500-1570 / 34-35, Submitting = 51%/17%
10. Duke: Med = 1550 SAT / 34 ACT, Range = 1510-1570 / 34-35, Submitting = 50%/31%
A comparison with highest scoring scores in a pre-COVID year, as copied from an earlier post is below:
Highest Reported Test Scores in 2019: IPEDS
1 . Caltech (1552): 35-36 ACT, 790-800 Math, 740-760 EBRW
– Gap –
2. MIT (1540): 34-36 ACT, 780-800 Math, 730-770 EBRW
– Large Gap –
3. Harvey Mudd (1519): 33-35 ACT, 780-800 Math, 710-770 EBRW
4. Chicago (1518): 33-35 ACT, 770-800 Math, 730-770 EBRW
5. Olin (1516): 34-35 ACT, 760-800 Math, 700-760 EBRW
6. Rice (1513): 33-35 ACT, 750-800 Math, 720-770 EBRW
7. Duke (1512): 33-35 ACT, 760-800 Math, 720-770 EBRW
8. Harvard (1509.2): 33-35 ACT, 750-800 Math, 710-770 EBRW
9. Princeton (1508.9): 33-35 ACT, 750-800 Math, 710-770 EBRW
10. Yale (1508.6): 33-35 ACT, 740-800 Math, 720-770 EBRW
Are you saying that W&L Admissions (or perhaps it was other schools/advisors) suggested your DC not submit scores unless they were above 1500? If so, and we have heard similar for other schools, why oh why do Admissions Departments not just require scores, and then they themselves can decide whether to factor them into the admit decision on a case by case basis?
They have pawned off test requirement optionality to applicants, but if Admissions believes scores are not the be all and end all, then Admissions should make the call on their relevance.
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It’s very frustrating. I am OK with either test blind or test required, but this game of “optional” is very stressful. We looked historically at test scores (prior to test optional) and realized they were significantly below reported averages now. My child’s school counselor said to him to submit scores even if in the 25 percentile, because with test optional, that’s already in the top of kids test wise.
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Not at all. They just showed a chart that showed that overall applicants who were test optional also had lower gpas than applicants who submitted scores.
We did have several schools tell S25 not to submit his score unless it was over 1500, but W&L was not one of them.
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These numbers are incorrect.
Which numbers? Those in the original post?
The numbers are based on IPEDS federal reporting for Fall 2023. The specific adjustment for students who submit both SAT and ACT is listed in original post.
No adjustment was needed. Most schools like Emory onlt report the highest score when students submit both the ACT and SAT. You can see this information in their factbook.
As I noted in the thread, it was only 5 out of the 50 that had total SAT + total ACT = 100% in 2019 – not “most”., and I adjusted for those 5 schools. As an example, look at the totals for schools that required scores in 2023.
MIT had 83% submitting SAT and 31% submitting ACT. 83% + 31% = 114%.
GoergiaTech had 77% submitting SAT and 35% submitting ACT. 77% + 35% = 112%. Georgetown had 75% submitting SAT and 35% submitting ACT. 75% + 35% = 110%.