Test optional. What does it mean for you?

Updated August 2024

This is one of the most common questions I get asked by families,

"Should my son/daughter take standardized tests?"

It is definitely a nuanced and individual answer. On a recent webinar with admissions officers from Emory, Johns Hopkins, Washington University in St Louis, and Notre Dame, their common answer was "if the test will augment your application then submit scores." For reference, they each said that slightly less than 50% of their admitted students this past year submitted test scores.

For schools who became test optional in the Fall of 2020, they have just finished their fourth academic year without required test scores schools and are now beginning to evaluate if test scores are an indicator of academic success. This evaluation will determine if they will continue test optional policies, it will be interesting to see the results of this analysis. FairTest posts a list of test optional schools as well as other relevant information. 

So does standardized test score help my college application?

In general, if your scores are close to the 75th percentile at the school(s) to which you are applying you might want to submit. You can see test score ranges by year by searching "Common Data Set [SchoolName]" and looking at sections C8 and C9 (though other data in the CDS is very helpful as well). It is important to keep in mind that for larger schools, where the art program, or even the art school (such as Stamps within University of Michigan), the information reported in the CDS is for the whole school making it very difficult to tease out information for specific majors/programs. 

All schools have said that they review applications considering all aspects including: rigor of your curriculum (as available to you), extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, essays, and for creative students the depth and interest of their artwork, so test scores were (and are) one data point in their evaluation. 

My advice: if studying for the test is a time, stress and/or financial burden where your time, stress and/or money can be better used elsewhere to augment your application, then you are better submitting a stronger application, than submitting an application with test scores.

As always, if you need guidance here's my calendar to learn how we can help guide you and reduce your stress. Schedule an appointment to talk today.