They could but will they? And are they willing to take less scores which damages their overall profile.
I see the points but I’m skeptical.
That’s ok.
As for submitting under the 25th percentile, maybe a few hear look further as you stated but most I read give guidance to be at least in the 25th and some 50th. Again this (cc) is a small snippet.
In the end, they’ll do as they see fit. And I think we can all agree to that.
Nope, “We don’t rank students”
I don’t think Dartmouth is making anyone’s life harder and I think they should do what is right for them as an institution. Kids who aren’t interested in testing need not apply - there are plenty of alternatives. That being said, I am doubtful that requiring tests is going to unearth a bunch of overlooked diamonds in the rough as they suggest. Prior to TO, Dartmouth struggled to attract and enroll these students but they did see somewhat of an increase during TO - I doubt returning to test required will result in more under represented kids applying; it is more likely to result to a return to their numbers prior to TO.
100% agree. What are they going to do differently than they did during the pre-covid test required years when they were also targeting the same disadvantaged students with outreach efforts? That is the million dollar question…and no one from D has addressed that.
It does seem a little strange. The are lots of good reasons why they might want to re-instate testing, but the idea that it will result in more (or better) applicants from under-served communities seems a bit of a stretch to me. That is especially true knowing how few kids from those communities were testing back in 2018 - I can only imagine it is a lower now % now.
School doesn’t need to “rank” students.
There are non-subtle information available, that can give away how the students compare.
May be not at your school, but typical examples I have found are:
I personally believe the “not rank” students is for HS to avoid unpleasant confrontations we have all heard of years back about people suing each other for the top honor. My 4.9 is better than you 4.91 because I took X numbers of hard AP classes vs you Y number of easy AP classes… My kids school also goes further by having the students elect the end of year valedictorian. It’s a popular contest and that way popularity from students also helps to avoid that risk of confrontation.
This is key.
I also know people who do not apply to some schools because their essays. The top reason I hear kids apply to CSU over everywhere else is because they don’t have to write essays…
Simply not available at our school.
It’s a public school with over 800 graduating seniors each year. Counselors are definitely not making phone calls to sell our students. 
Students get a total of 1-2 meetings with the college counselor.
I’m curious about this. Can you say more please? Are you being literal and if so what does this look like? Is it “Check here if the student’s coursework was on the more rigorous end of the spectrum offered” sort of thing? More specific descriptions and gradations of same?
I’m asking out of curiosity, and because I’d assumed that this would be covered more in the GC LOR.
This is minor, but maybe they can make the dates for their fly-in program applications a little later in the summer. I can’t recall the application deadlines, but I know that both of my older kids might have considered applying but they missed the deadline because it was either late spring or very early summer, several weeks before the deadlines of other fly-in programs. Or Dartmouth could change their fly-in to be like several other colleges, which offer students a a couple of different dates to attend a program, one in September and then another towards mid/late October.
Here is one place that I (as a parent) found Common App counselor and recommender forms, to see what they are filling out: Member Support
I think this is the checkbox referred to:
One of the (unstated on CC) benefits of testing is the College Board providing student data back to the colleges. Yes, those hated mailers and postcards etc. that show up in your mail.
But I personally know of kids whose trajectory was community college for certification in some allied health field whose lives were changed by one of those stupid mailers. By the time a college has scores, a zip code, and the name of the kid’s HS, they are halfway towards attracting one of those “diamonds in the rough” y’all are so dismissive about.
You may not believe this- but there are kids in rural Kentucky who don’t know what the Ivy League is and have no idea that there is something called “Need based aid”.
Yes, this is it.
Thank you! Sorry for the brain oops of not thinking to google. Some of the process seems so opaque that it didn’t occur to me that the form would be public 
A school with class size of 800 makes “guessing” even easier.
If you as a parents doesn’t know, I get that. But colleges know based on how many people from that 800 applied to their school. They can “rank” you from the stats.
They can also compare students from year to year and get a “sense” of where those kids stand.
I went to a large public school with 700 people. Yeah, our counselor definitely made two phone calls my year because come graduation, Harvard guy and Yale girl both thank her and proclaimed they wouldn’t have been able to without her “help.”
Besides, just because your school doesn’t rank, it doesn’t mean all other schools are not doing it “softly.”
Absolutely, that’s why it’s frustrating to be in the dark as a parent.
It’s true. But kids talk. They know (or should) know where they stand.
That is what the form looks like…but many counselors don’t complete that, especially ones from schools that don’t rank (because they don’t want telegraph anything that could ‘rank’ students).
No one is dismissive and of course outreach will work some of the time. I’m just pointing out that prior to being TO, Dartmouth experienced difficulty attracting these students despite their attempts at outreach. Now, even fewer low income students are taking a test which will make finding them via testing even more challenging.
