Does going test-optional hurt my application?

Answered

The previous answer is only partially correct.

I think some test-optional schools (Yale) are on the fence about whether or not to submit scores so they have come out on their websites to state that if you have test scores, we want to see them. Other schools this year like MIT, Georgetown, and all the Florida and Georgia public schools require test scores.

I have a simple decision tree to decide whether or not you should submit or not.

1. Research the school and study the previous class of 2026, or class of 2025 incoming profiles on their websites or look up the common data set for the school. Figure out what the admit GPAs, and middle range of test scores are, and look at the C7 for the relative importance of criteria for that school. Do they consider rank? Do they think essays are Very Important? Personal Character?

2. Compare your common app profile and narrative to the admit pool and see how you feel. Are you strong relative to the admit pool? Average? or weak?

3. If you are strong, you are confident in your essay writing ability, your recommendations are the best compared to others in your class, and you are confident that you are impressive in interviews, then I would say you don't need to submit your test scores. The other factors being you meet the high GPA, rank, and other C7. criteria with flying colors.

4. If you are average or weak, then not having a test score to submit which nicely fits between the 25%-75% of admits, means you are more than likely not to be admitted. And in this case, I would recommend if you are a 10th, or 11th grader grind on either the SAT or ACT test prep and get your scores up to par with the 50% percentile range.

Forensically speaking, over the past 2 application cycles, not having a test score actually hurt applicants more than submitting a good test score. How do we know this? It's very easy to figure this out for a college. If you research the % of admits submitting test scores and compare them to the % applicant submitting test scores, 99/100 times the admit pool has a higher percentage than the application pool. For example at UPenn, 63% submitted test scores but 76% of the admit pool submitted test scores. What you can infer from this is that the admissions office preferred to offer admission to applicants that had these additional data points. Why? Because it helps remove the risk that they are not prepared to do well in their college-level courses. And class retention is important to top schools for ranking purposes.

I watched a college consultant answer the question differently. He said not submitting a test score is like going on Tinder or Bumble and not putting your height on your dating profile. He felt that if you are trying to meet your dream Barbie or Ken, then you should not deliberately make them guess. And if they have to guess, they are going to assume you are not tall enough for them to be attracted to you. It's superficial but in a sad way, people are superficial right? So college admissions are superficial as well.

Absolutely not! COlleges have given the option seeing as times are changing and less people were taking the SAT because of Covid and it really effected the student outlook. I've applied to 5 colleges so far test-optional and got in so you can to! it just makes you look better so I say just submit it for competitive schools

no, when a college is test-optional it means that if you don't submit your test scores they won't even consider it. Colleges look at each applicant very holistically, so if you don't submit your test scores you'll still be on the same platform as every other applicant when it comes to the deciding factor.

We can't tell you without knowing your test score and which colleges you're thinking of applying test-optional to. Assuming you took the SAT, look up "[name of college] SAT range," which will give you the middle 50th percentile of admitted students' SAT scores. This means 25% of SAT scores fall above, and 25% below that range. If you fall anywhere in this 50th percentile range or above, you should probably submit your score. If below, I would consider not sending it depending by how much and what else makes you a candidate for each school.

If the college does not require the test, then generally NO, it will not hurt your application. But know that without test scores other parts of your application will become more important. This includes your GPA, your college essay, awards and achievements, references, and any extracurricular activities you include.