I think at least a couple more ivies plus Duke, others will be test required or some AP alternative allowed , but not sure it will be done in time for the next cycle. I cansee it being this summer, for 2026 Hs grads.
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It’s getting so late to announce changes for Class of 2025. Too late really. Dartmouth and Yale were too late IMO.
IMO, if the colleges want to require tests, that is OK of course…but then they should be part of the solution that many areas of the country are facing with much fewer testing seats now vs prior to Covid.
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Good point, that is curious wording…hope the formal policy is clear.
I continue to have no idea how IB scores could be substituted. Most IB students have few scores from junior year to report.
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Are those percentages based on all kids in those age cohorts or are those percentages based on those who took the test? If it is the latter, it is hard for schools to argue that they’ll be able to target low income kids with higher than expected test scores since there appears to be a minuscule number of them.
I hope they clear that up. However IB schools are supposed to be able to predict scores and the IB body is quite strict (a school could lose its accreditation if it systematically predicted too high). Or perhaps they’ll push for a “SL exams in 11th, HL exams+ EE TOK in 12th”.
Other national exams = international ? AICE/ASlevels/Cambridge exams available in the US? APs?
Yale was very clear they aren’t going to accept IB predicted scores though. Regardless, I agree with what you said and hope they all write their policies very clearly!
Even if an IB school adjusted and held all SL exams in 11th, seems like the colleges still wouldn’t have the relatively more important HL scores. Not to mention I don’t think schools should be changing their curricula to satisfy outlier colleges (at this point, which could change.)
I think Duke may still remain test optional. They recently doubled down on “not scoring” standardized tests when they also stated they would no longer score essays due to the rise in AI.
I am in favor of standardized testing, but I agree with this. They shouldn’t be making it required for HS Class of 2025. There are a limited number of test dates that students could sign up for, particularly for early applications.
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Duke doesn’t have a recent CDS that I see but in the 2021/22, 93% of students submitted a score - so they can remain TO, but it doesn’t necessarily mean, short of a hook, that you can get in TO.
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Agreed. And when the summer/fall test registrations open up, they will sell out in a matter of minutes/hours in some areas.
There just aren’t many available seats in some places, including the West coast, as well as relatively low income areas all over the US.
It would be good to hear these schools address these issues, and the fact that somewhere in the neighborhood of only 20%-30% of low income students even take a test (which I know we have talked about).
Until the schools address these issues, I will look at that chart that Jon B put together (that I posted on the misguided SAT thread) and think that these schools didn’t get the classes they wanted during the test optional years (I’m not talking from an academic perspective). That may not be what these schools think, but leaving it unaddressed allows people to fill in the blank however they want. They can control the narrative, or not.
Since the GRE can be taken at private testing sites, I woudl bet that CollegeBoard will soon get there for teh SAT.
Yes for Yale (although I wonder if they’ll specify in that case what would count for IB, unless they’reencouraging gap years?) - Brown wasn’t as clear though, they just indicate “IB or a a national exam”.
Some schools already do the SL exams in 11th/HL exams in 12th, especially in countries where there’s a two tiered exam system over the “terminal cycle” but also in the US when they want students to focus on the very ambitious HL syllabi.
CB already offers a private/testing closer to home option for SAT, but not sure how it works or how many students take advantage of this.
https://admissions.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/DukeFastFacts2022.pdf states “26% of admitted students did not submit scores.” Non-submitters tend to have a higher yield than submitters, so it might be 30% non-submitter among matriculating students.
Duke’s CDS shows 46% submitted SAT and 47% submitted ACT. This does not conflict with the Duke-published stats above. Instead it suggests that a good portion of admits submitted both SAT and ACT and/or some submitted scores and requested that Duke not consider them in admission decisions.
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You have to demonstrate that you live further than x00miles from a test site and apply many months before your chosen test date so they can try&find a place that can accomodate you. With digital, I suppose domestic students could access the test more easily anywhere there’s a computer but they would have to be monitored.
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Sounds like that would then preclude the reason that all sites are sold out within 4 hours of your home.
And we know the difficulties that home school students have finding a test site for APs, so I expect this might not be different.
Good luck 
Yes, I’m not sure how this will work. Will “there are no test sites in my region and CB couldn’t accomodate my request” with CB reply form suffice to waive the requirement? Will it serve as a subtle indication of regional deprivation/circumstances (which it may not be a signifier for)?
“Favored” is a complex topic.
Yale explained their acceptance rate for test submitters was much higher than for test optional, but you would need more information to be sure what that mean.
Dartmouth did provide more information, and above around 1400, with disadvantaged students, it appears the test submitters had a higher acceptance rate than test option even controlling for test score (which they knew for some people who went test optional).
But below 1400, test submitters did a bit worse among disadvantaged, and among the advantaged it really didn’t seem to make a material difference at all.
So . . . complicated. Assuming Dartmouth used the same basic policies, if you were disadvantaged and 1400+, you should probably have submitted. For Yale, I suspect it is similar but they didn’t say. For advantaged applicants, not so much at Dartmouth, and unknown at Yale.
Penn to remain test optional for class of 2025
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So how many Yale/Brown early apps will now be funneled to Harvard/Princeton?
At our school, lots of TO kids have taken their shot with reasonable success. I think they will take a calculated risk with another TO school, even if their preferred school was Yale or Brown.