Hello,
I am interested in learning about acceptances in top colleges with Test Optional. Could you please share GPA stats, Aps, EC, schools, ED/EA/RD, tips, etc.
Thank you
I think more important than these is probably geography, test access, how well resourced the HS school is, SES.
3 Likes
Thank you. What I would appreciate from parents is what their students’ stats were when they got accepted test optional to top schools. If your child applied test optional and got accepted, what was their Weighted GPA, how many APs, etc. Trying to figure out the chances. Thanks again.
I understand, but my point is that the context provided by the things I list inform how the lack of test score is considered. Test scores are also avaluated holistically.
2 Likes
I think you are asking the wrong question. You aren’t going to find anyone at a highly selective school with poor or okay stats. There is not a weighted GPA for a test optional admit that will satisfy you or bring you confidence in this process.
You cannot evaluate another student’s TO acceptance without context. For example, was the student URM, a recruited athlete, child of major donor etc. Also, there isn’t some gpa /# of APs that will boost a TO applicant’s chances. Even kids with top test scores along with excellent gpas/rigor are routinely rejected.
I don’t think my question is well understood. I am not looking for poor or okay stats. There are schools (even the top ones) that publish stats about percentage of students accepted with test optional. Some of them have 50% percent who were accepted with test optional. So I am trying to understand what their GPAs, ECs, etc. were. Hope this is now clear.
Time is a factor to consider with any answers you may receive here. As we are getting further from the pandemic stage of covid, more and more colleges are requiring standardized tests. For colleges that remain test optional, an increasing percentage of students are providing test results.
1 Like
And what we are trying to tell you is that is unlikely to be the thing that moved the bar for these kids. More often than not it is how they meet institutional priorities. GPAs, ECs etc are the common denominator.
ETA - for everyone that gets in, you will likely find a very similar applicant who did not so its a futile exercise.
2 Likes
If a kid is determined to apply to a highly rejective college test optional- the rest of the application needs to be fantastic. What does this mean for an individual kid? That depends. If your kid hates the cold, telling him to become a ski champion over the next few months is unlikely to be helpful. If your kid doesn’t like creative writing, telling her to publish a novel is bad advice.
So in the context of your own kid-- make sure there is a robust list of schools of varying competitiveness for admissions, and that there are two sure bets of places the kid will get into based on the current GPA without scores which you can afford. The rest becomes a little chancier!
1 Like
You have yet to get a single response from a student (or family member of a student) who got into a highly selective institution as a test optional applicant. This is likely because many are recruited athletes, legacies, on a special list or have an EC of national or international acclaim.
I have a child at a highly selective university (that I believe is still test optional). When we discussed the SCOTUS decision on college admissions, I asked him how many students he knew that were test optional. He didn’t know a single one.
Recruited athletes - yes, legacy - no. These days the bar for legacy is extremely high. If anything, on average, they have the highest scores. (as would be expected of what is typically a high SES applicant with educated parents and from a good HS)
3 Likes
I think it would be more accurate to say that more of the elite colleges (T20 type) are requiring tests. For the vast majority of schools I don’t think that is the case at all. I don’t think most SLACs are moving in that direction either.
I think it depends on what the OP means by a top college. Some top LACs appears to be honestly test optional. The Claremont colleges for instance.
1 Like
Which colleges?
2 Likes
Agree. I don’t think a single highly ranked SLAC requires test results, and the percentages of students submitting results to these schools is not going up.
As a single data point, my kid got into Wesleyan this year TO. Boy, full-pay, applied ED2. (4.0 uw, highest rigor, excellent ECs/leadership, but pretty much everyone accepted to Wes has these things.)
2 Likes
Exactly. I think any TO applicant to a top university or SLAC is going in with very high grades, strong rigor and excellent ECs. Just like all applicants to these schools. I don’t think there is a magic formula that will overcome a lack of test score at schools that prefer a test - in fact there is no formula at an elite school for any student, TO or not. If you are not hooked, your chances aren’t great because you need to fill some kind of institutional priority and we don’t know what those are (and they can change from year to year).
1 Like
OP - if you look back on last year’s threads for the specific schools you are interested in, there will be many posts of stats and the admission decision.
1 Like
Closed at request of OP.