I’m curious to hear opinions on this topic as they seem to be all over the place. Many schools are still TO, and it seems the general idea is to submit if your scores are within the school’s average, and opt opt if scores are lower than the average. Is this right? If so, what if the test scores are on the cusp? My concern is that a school might assume the scores are lower than they actually are. My son got a 33 on his ACTs and is applying to Haverford, Vassar, U Rochester, William and Mary, Case Western, Wesleyan and some others. Many of these schools list 33 at the bottom of the range. Would people in general recommend sharing the scores?
A 33 at William and Mary is a solid score. I’d send that at least for there. My daughter was admitted with a 33.
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At Haverford, 54% submit - and 33 is at the 25th percentile.
Vassar only 39% submit and a 33 is the 25th percentile.
Rochester only 36% and it’s a 31 in the 25th percentile.
W&M 62% and 32 is the 25th percentile.
CWRU 66% and 32 is the 25th percentile.
So one can make an argument to submit to all. Some say don’t do at the 25th - but all these schools, especially Vassar and Rochester, have low submittal rates - so in some ways even if at the 25th percentile, there is some validation.
I would make sure the sections are somewhat even though. On another thread, there’s a student with two 36s but a 25 for a 32 average. So I might not want to submit that - especially if my focus area was in the 25 zone.
The other thing and you won’t see it - is gender. At W&M, as an example, 6675 men applied but 10,873 women did - so in theory, women would have a tougher chance if they’re trying to balance.
As it is, men are admitted at 37% whereas women at 30% so removing other criteria (maybe the men are more accomplished overall), it seems like gender plays a part too and would help your son at W&M - and perhaps that 33 is an extra “help” vs. a female.
In the end, your student should decide if they want to - my daughter did to 20 of 21 with her 32 - because she was proud of it - and that’s fair too. WL where she did submit at W&M 
No one truly knows the answer - but you make your best guess!!
Good luck.
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Here is the completely unscientific plan that S25 and I came up with.
If the school’s CDS from 23-24 has less than 50% submitting test scores, then don’t submit unless your scores are over the 50%. If more than 50% submitted scores than I would submit anything over the 25%. If the schools are safeties but offer high merit, I wouldn’t submit unless you’re over the 75%. A high GPA at a place like Miami Ohio will get you plenty of merit while a lower test score with a high GPA might hurt your merit amount or your admission to Honors.
There’s no way of knowing how this next cycle will go, and it will differ school to school too. D23 was very successful test optional as were many of her friends. Have the winds shifted so much in the last two years? I have no idea.
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With the ACT and the score inflation caused by TO, I don’t know that the stratification means much on a 36-point scale. I mean, it seems like a 33 is just table stakes rather than a big leap of faith for admission.
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I would start by asking the student’s HS counselor.
There’s no formula or blanket guideline that covers all students. Each student’s case is unique…you have to consider the overall strength of their app, rigor, AP test scores, major, test score relative to their HS class average, whether they are applying for financial aid/or if they need merit, etc.
I wrote on another thread recently that some schools have the policy that scores can do no harm, some read apps that way even tho there is no policy, whereas scores are important to some TO schools…especially for some subsets of students. Some AOs say they don’t infer anything about a score that’s not there. It’s hard to sort thru, TO has made things more difficult in many ways.
We’ve also discussed on several threads that students should ask their AO whether or not they should submit. Some schools/AOs will give clear guidance on this…Penn State, Tulane, UIUC all will. Your student can also do virtual admission sessions and ask this question there and/or in live sessions.
Generally if a score is at the 25%ile or higher I would have an unhooked applicant submit that. Good luck.
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S24 got 1440 SAT (eq 32 ACT). He submitted it to all the schools except CA schools and uDub. He was proud of the score. His logic was that he spent so much effort and money to get the score, may as well sent it. Plus AOs would assume he did worse if not submitting it. At the end, I don’t think the score makes any difference for the reach schools’ rejections. But I believe the score help to secure $14.5K/yr merit for Ohio State and WUE + honors for Oregon State.
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Also depends if your school is “under resourced” of if your family is lower income. But at a 33, don’t see it hurting to submit no matter the HS or family situation.
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For schools that have been TO for the last 4-5 years keep in mind that their mid 50% scores will have crept up. People believing that they should only submit if they’re in the top 1/2 half means the average moves. If you look at the common data set prior to 2020 you might get a better indicator.
But I agree with what others have said. It’s a school by school, case by case basis. Auburn was still TO this past year but from that thread it seemed that just about anyone that submitted TO was deferred from EA to RD. Tulane will guide that they want you to submit only if your score is in the top 50% (they want that score creeping up to make them look more selective). You need to go to the admissions presentations and ask the question.
Auburn is test preferred, and has been for the last two cycles (maybe 3?). They have a test optional pathway which states: “Applicants with at least a 3.6 GPA who cannot secure a test will be considered for admission under our test-optional pathway.” Including that option, the proportion of students admitted TO is less than 10%. The vast majority of applicants who receive merit also submitted test scores.
They do get a demerit for inappropriately mixing and matching the terms test optional and test preferred.
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I’d ask for the section scores before offering an opinion.
I posted this several times over the past couple of years in the Auburn threads. Auburn is not test optional. Auburn expects a test score but will consider a student without one if the student has a 3.6 or above AND WAS UNABLE TO TEST. They are unambiguous about this in their information sessions, but I agree the wording on the website is confusing. By definition, there is no “option” to submit a test score if a student was unable to take the test and Auburn can’t “prefer” to see a test score that doesn’t exist. It would be much better if they just said that they are test required but will make an exception in cases where a student is unable to test.
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In general, it makes sense to submit a score if it solidifies or supports that particular student’s application. So a fantastic, high gpa student with a 25th% score? Okay, prob won’t hurt, in the ballpark, other elements of application will get them in. Same kid with a score much lower than that, prob due to being a poor test taker? Do not submit.
A student coming from circumstances where the school wants them for diversity purposes, but the school would assume a low score, based upon demographics, yet that student has a score maybe a hundred points lower than 25th%? Submit. For that student, the school is looking for confirmation that they are prepared to do college level work, which their score does confirm.
So it is really specific to each individual student and their circumstances.
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I think you should start another post with this intel… because I think it reflects the thinking of MANY colleges right now, even though they aren’t explicit with it.
The “My kid is a genius but doesn’t test well” crowd should apply to the truly TO colleges which have a lot of experience (i.e. pre-Covid) evaluating applications with no test scores.
Everyone else needs to consider what not submitting means–colleges which went TO out of necessity (kids didn’t HAVE scores to evaluate) but seem to be backtracking now that kids can test-- well, your kid has fewer datapoints to submit than a kid who has scores (likely the same scores as your kid). More data is usually better than less. Your kid’s scores are in the bottom quartile? That checks the box of “do we know how this kid compares with others on a nationally normed test” and likely doesn’t get discussed again besides “Yup, scores are within range”. And then they move on to discussing the really interesting stuff about your kid.
Great post, Greatpyrmom!
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Thought I would share this link. Is it relevant today? Again, no idea.
I posted on some of those threads here and there too…I felt that it’s one of those things where people hear what they want to hear. And made mistakes because of it.
I do wish that Auburn would take the words test optional off the title of that page I linked to though.
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I don’t think these data were ever relevant. Even if the acceptance rate is higher for those applicants who submitted tests that doesn’t mean the school prefers tests…it may just be that the stronger applicants submitted test scores. Without controlling for GPA/rigor, these types of data don’t really tell us anything.
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Good point. I do really wish the schools were clearer on all of this.
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I cannot find section scores for math in S25’s score report for DSAT.
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In many cases, even TO colleges want some external data. For instance, if you took an AP class and got an A, can you get a 5?
I would submit the 33 (+ any AP score that shows mastery).
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