I note this issue has been a moving target. At a high level, recruited athletes at these sort of highly selective colleges are typically going to do a pre-read, where they submit a sort of basic application to admissions and admissions tells them if they are likely to be admitted if recruited. Material changes can lead to different results, but if things don’t change then recruited athletes are supposed to be able to rely on pre-reads (at least at most such colleges).
OK, so for a while post-COVID, a lot of colleges were no longer requiring test scores as part of their pre-read process for recruited athletes. But my understanding is they started being encouraged again, and now in some cases are being required again.
Given all this, I think in some cases recruited athletes if anything could end up with a higher percentage submitting, not lower. But it may be very sensitive to which cycle you are looking at.
Incidentally, my understanding is also that legacy admits are more, not less, likely to submit, and this may also push more submitters into the ED pools at some colleges. This may sound a little backward to some people, but apparently legacy admits at these sorts of colleges actually tend to be high numbers admits (this showed up in the Harvard litigation data, Princeton incoming surveys, and so on), with the legacy preference appearing to do the most work in terms of the non-numbers parts of holistic review.
So, who knows, but I would not just assume that ED admits have a lower percentage of test submitters than RD admits. I actually think it could be the opposite, although my guess is it is really a moving target and we may need a couple more cycles for it to really settle out.
Agree that score information is probably helpful if there is less objective standards available such reputation of the high school, GPA, course rigor and the College does not know the school context well.
I talked to an AO of a different school about this. He said that test scores have become irrelevant as applicants have been told to submit only if their score is above the median. Medians (and quartiles) are therefore moving up every year and everyone who submits has basically the same score (or very similar).
At Williams, the median ACT score has gone from 33 to 35 since going TO. The 25% percentile has gone from 31 to 34! Only those who can afford a lot of tutoring will submit scores.
It is a data point. I actually think that the current SAT is much less tutoring dependent than it was in the 80s or 90s. The math is all algebra 2 or earlier and not full of tricky problems and the english is grammar and reading comprehension, hard to study for. Yes needs practice but not really studying or prepping. If the colleges think they dont need the tests to create classes that is good but kids who score very high are showing something, esp when combined with excellent grades.
So. let’s take two kids both with equally excellent grades and everything else in an application. One takes the ACT once only with no tutoring and scores 33. The other takes the test multiple times with enough tutoring to get to a supersocre of 35. Is that helpful in deciding between these two?
I’m not really upset because I know that I’ll succeed academically in college. IMO, those kids probably don’t belong at a super rigorous college if they rely on daddy’s money to get a decent score. This is coming from a generally poor test taker, who has 2 documented learning differences. I get slightly extended time to compensate, and because I have autism and ADHD, I don’t think it’s an advantage
Tutoring should not make a difference in scores. All power to the people that get that score with tutoring, I just think they may struggle.
You are making my case for me. However, I’ll stop as this is not the thread for criticizing standardized testing and all the other unfair flaws of the application/admission process.
I agree with you. I actually think it is hard to really bring a score into that range with just tutoring; practice, studying, yes, and these things take work and time, and not necessarily money. All of which show ability to work hard that will help you in college.