The Growing Test Optional Movement

Prior to the onset of the pandemic, a decades-long movement away from testing requirements already had momentum. There are many rationales for removing the requirement. Perhaps the most fundamental is the argument that the additional information provided by tests is murky and not worth the effort and expense borne by students to produce scores. Colleges also generally find that test-optional policies help them reach broader and more diverse student populations. Competitive considerations vis-a-vis their peer institutions’ policies may play a role. 

The pandemic has significantly altered the testing policy landscape at all levels of selectivity and type of institution and greatly accelerated the adoption of test optional policies. As of February 2020, 58 of the “US News Top 100” liberal arts colleges were test flexible, along with 19 of the “Top 100” national research universities. Six months later, nearly all of these liberal arts colleges and a great majority of these national universities were test optional (at least for the class of 2021). And as test site cancellations continue through fall 2020, the remaining holdouts will likely relax their requirements. Class of 2021 students will not find their options much constrained by not submitting test scores.

Unconstrained, though, does not mean one’s application is as competitive as it would be if it included strong test scores. Therein lies a dilemma for the class of 2021, and one that may confront the class of 2022 as well. 

For the class of 2021, at least, the absence of test scores is unlikely to be viewed as a red flag. The only reasonable assumption is that the applicant did not have safe, readily available opportunities to test. Whereas in prior years some colleges might have assumed uncompetitive scores were being withheld, we expect the class of 2021 will get the benefit of the doubt.

However, strong test scores can still help at competitive schools that are not test free (this label is preferred over “test-blind”). The most prudent path is to err on the side of attaining strong scores, if feasible. For many students the operative question is not which application components are optional, but rather what are the other applicants of similar backgrounds likely to present as strengths. We have not found that test-optional policies reduce interest in testing by students applying to competitive colleges.

Deciding how much to pursue testing opportunities requires risk calculations that were unfamiliar before spring 2020. Families must first determine whether any local test centers are open and available and then whether those test sites satisfy the family’s safety concerns. 

Students should try to ascertain how essential scores will be at their target colleges. It is too early to know which colleges will remain test optional after this year. And there is the uncertainty of whether a college is enthusiastically test optional or still likely to afford favor to applications that include strong scores. 

To assist with these questions and others, Compass closely tracks the testing policies and competitive profiles of 400+ popular colleges. These institutions attract a national applicant pool and are all moderately to highly selective. Their testing policies for the class of 2021 break down as follows:A temporary test optional stance is most common. Within this group are schools that still prefer to receive scores and have granted a test optional concession only due to the pandemic. Also included are schools whose admissions leaders are fully committed to the ethos of test optional and are urging their stakeholders to make the policy permanent (resistance often comes from faculty, trustees, or politically-appointed regents of state institutions). How these trial periods will evolve for the class of 2022 and beyond remains to be seen. Compass expects many test optional policies to become permanent and that the test free movement will gain traction as well. Students who are disadvantaged or discouraged by testing will have more options than ever before, even as scores remain relevant in most competitive contexts. 

A complete reckoning of the impact of the test optional surge of 2020 will take several years. In the near term, we will learn how many students were unable to sit for tests at all and also how many test takers chose to submit scores to test optional colleges. Over the next few years, we will see if applicant and admission profiles at competitive colleges alter and what role testing policies may have in that change. Other factors will surely affect college admissions in the coming years, too: the number of students taking gap years, the attractiveness and accessibility of US colleges among international students, the affordability and safety of the residential college model, and more. 

The following is a sampling of admission statistics and testing requirements at 400+ well-known colleges with competitive admissions. Class year refers to the fall term of the entering first-year class. The test scores represent the middle 50% range of the incoming class. These scores should not be viewed as cutoffs or qualifying scores.

Many colleges have recently enacted temporary or permanent test-optional policies as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Test optional policies may not have been in place during the application cycle for the entering class whose data is listed. We have included historical requirements with the aim of aiding students in their expectation of future requirements.