Test optional

If you apply test-optional as an Int'l or US student, your chances will be negatively affected. While the colleges and universities insist that they are all impartial and they use a holistic approach to evaluating your application, the results of last year's Class of 2025 tell a different story. Most significant were schools like MIT and Georgetown who had record numbers of applications and those admitted especially during ED/EA had the highest percentage of test scores submitted (90-93%). Other top colleges like UPenn, Duke, Rice, and most of the Top 40 schools had test score submissions by admits in the 50%-75% range. What you can infer is that if you had a good test score to submit it only helped you get into the college of your choice.

Here is a list of schools that I am using to support my argument from last month's discussion post.

Column Descriptions as Follows:

School /% Applied w/Test/% Admitted w/Test/# Applications/# Admitted/Admit Rate/% Admitted w/Test/% Admitted w/o test/% Boost when appyling with Test Score

Amherst College 51% 63% 14000 1120 8.0% 10.1% 5.9% 26%

Boston College 58% 61% 39875 7536 18.9% 23.1% 14.7% 22%

Boston University 58% 63% 75733 13884 18.3% 23.1% 13.6% 26%

Bowdoin College 56% 61% 9325 822 8.8% 10.8% 6.9% 22%

Bucknell University 49% 62% 11252 3826 34.0% 42.2% 25.8% 24%

Colgate University 41% 60% 17533 3010 17.2% 20.6% 13.7% 20%

Duke University 56% 61% 49517 2854 5.8% 7.0% 4.5% 22%

Emory Univ (Main) 50% 69% 33385 4343 13.0% 18.0% 8.1% 38%

Fordham University 36% 42% 45000 26100 58.0% 48.7% 67.3% (-16%)

Georgetown Univ. 80% 90% 27650 3226 11.7% 21.0% 2.3% 80%

Georgia Tech Univ. 63% 79% 45357 8105 17.9% 28.2% 7.5% 58%

Haverford College 40% 50% 5336 950 17.8% 17.8% 17.8% 0%

Middlebury College 50% 60% 11908 1871 15.7% 18.9% 12.6% 20%

Pomona College 50% 57% 12000 745 6.2% 7.1% 5.3% 14%

Rice University 80% 90% 29523 2749 9.3% 16.8% 1.9% 80%

Swarthmore College 53% 63% 13000 1014 7.8% 9.8% 5.8% 26%

Tufts University 50% 60% 31190 3431 11.0% 13.2% 8.8% 20%

Tulane University 40% 50% 45517 4429 9.7% 9.7% 9.7% 0%

University of Georgia 50% 60% 39400 15350 39.0% 46.8% 31.2% 20%

Univ of Notre Dame 49% 51% 23639 3446 14.6% 14.9% 14.3% 2%

University of Penn 63% 76% 56333 3202 5.7% 8.6% 2.7% 52%

University of Virginia 58% 72% 48011 9875 20.6% 29.6% 11.5% 44%

Vanderbilt University 56.3% 61.1% 47174 3162 6.7% 8.2% 5.2% 22%

Villanova Uiniversity 50% 60% 24399 6100 25.0% 30.0% 20.0% 20%

Virginia Tech Univ 53% 60% 42084 26934 64.0% 76.8% 51.2% 20%

Wash Univ St. Louis 59% 69% 33634 4374 13.0% 17.9% 8.1% 38%

Wellesley College 40% 50% 7920 1267 16.0% 16.0% 16.0% 0%

Wesleyan University 59% 64% 13145 2544 19.4% 24.8% 13.9% 28%

To test this hypothesis on your Chancing Profile, change the toggle to Applying without a Test Score and see that your chances to get into colleges that are test-optional change. (The Caveat is Test-Blind schools like Caltech or UC schools because they are not using Test scores in the admissions process currently).