The University of Michigan campus on March 6
The announcement by Ivy League schools and many other top schools to eliminate test score requirements for the SAT and ACT standardized tests for the class of 2025 has triggered an unprecedented influx of applications for admission, and what could be the most chaotic year for admissions reviews at U.S. colleges and universities since the end of World War II.
This month, the question before major U.S. colleges and universities is whether the surge in applications will permanently change the way colleges and universities select new students, and ultimately affect the composition of the student body at U.S. colleges and universities.
Interviews with college admissions officers and public and private high school counselors reveal the long, hard work they put in behind the scenes to make tough decisions as fast as possible. Major colleges and universities typically send out most of their acceptance letters in March and early April, but the exact composition of the incoming class is generally not known until late summer or early fall. In addition, whether students who were deferred from the previous academic year decide to enroll this year adds a new level of uncertainty to the overall enrollment picture.
Harvard University (Harvard) received more than 57,000 applications for its undergraduate class this fall, a 42 percent jump from the previous academic year. Due to the surge in applications, Yale University (Yale), Columbia University (Columbia) and Stanford University (Stanford) have announced that they will postpone announcing admissions decisions for new students. The University of Southern California (University of Southern California) received applications for admission than the previous record high of 7% higher. New York University (New York) exceeded 100,000 applications, a 17 percent increase over last year.
Numerous studies have shown that standardized test scores are often tied to family economic circumstances, and as colleges focus less on standardized test scores, it could mean that more children from low-income families in resource-poor high schools will be admitted. Colleges also say that without SAT or ACT scores, they will place more emphasis on teacher recommendations and students’ displays of intellectual curiosity, and make judgments based on the students’ upbringing.
Lee Coffin, associate dean for admissions and director of the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid at Dartmouth College, said that “we need to walk the talk” in terms of assessing applicants’ profiles more thoroughly. After the requirement for standardized test scores was eliminated this year, the college saw a 33 percent increase in applications for admission.
Coffin said he is in a dilemma about whether to make standardized test scores non-mandatory for admission. Before the outbreak, standardized test scores were what Dartmouth College valued most besides grade point average (GPA), essays and class rank. High scores increase the school’s confidence that entrants will meet the Ivy League school’s requirements. “It becomes a moral issue,” he said, “and I don’t want to admit a student who has trouble finishing school.”
Some industry veterans are skeptical that eliminating standardized test score requirements will have a dramatic impact on admissions to top schools. Sam Bigelow, director of college counseling at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, said that because they no longer have to worry about standardized test scores holding them back, the number of applications from the segment of students who used to be less likely to declare for top schools could increase.
“But I don’t think the admissions bar or fairness will change fundamentally as a result,” he said, “The biggest change would be a surge in the number of applicants, but in general, that would just lead to more students being rejected.”
Bigelow said that if an applicant does not submit standardized test scores and applies to a college or university that has never admitted a student from his or her high school alma mater, that college or university may consider admitting that person a higher risk. He noted that straight A’s in a regular high school are not the same as having the ability to handle the heavy academic load of a prestigious school.
Several pedestrians walk through the Harvard campus on April 20, 2020
The lack of standardized test scores for reference is not the only dilemma admissions officers face. Last spring semester, the GPA, which used to be a key reference for admissions, suddenly became complicated. On-campus instruction was abruptly suspended at the time, and many high schools were adopting a pass/fail grading system for seniors who had completed their studies through online classes. Not only that, but extracurricular activities such as sports were cancelled across the United States, causing many students to lose the opportunity to demonstrate personal leadership on their admissions applications.
However, standardized testing remains the biggest unknown factor in college admissions this year. SAT and ACT tests were canceled in many parts of the U.S. due to concerns that the gathering of test takers could cause public health problems. More than 1,600 four-year colleges have stopped requiring applicants to submit standardized test scores in the current admissions cycle because large numbers of students are unable to take the tests as planned. The policy of making standardized test scores optional has been supported by some top schools over the past decade, and more than 600 more colleges have flocked to the fold since last March.
Many top schools, including Amherst College and Princeton University, have extended the policy of making standardized test scores optional for at least a year. College counselors and some admissions officers say the trend will be difficult to reverse.
As more and more top schools remove mandatory requirements for standardized test scores, thousands of students are joining the ranks of those applying to top schools. In an age where nothing is certain, anything seems possible – so what the heck, high school seniors will wonder, why not try applying to Harvard?
Amal Sayed of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, applied to 21 colleges for admission this fall and winter and received a tuition waiver through a program that helps students from low-income families get into top schools.
With no standardized test scores to provide, “it was much easier to apply to those top schools.” Said said, “I don’t feel like I can’t. Why not give it a try?”
Admissions officers at top-tier institutions consistently claim to conduct thorough reviews of applicants, examining academic literacy in the context of a student’s growth. Do students become successful by taking the hardest courses? Or do they get straight A’s in less difficult courses? Did those with a 3.9 GPA pursue their education in a distraction-free environment? Or will they have to work part-time at a fast food restaurant, take care of a sick parent, or play soccer on a varsity team? All of these are examined.
Who is more deserving of the coveted spot at a top school: a student who comes from a privileged background and excels? Or a child from a poor family with fair grades?
Of the students who applied to Georgia Institute of Technology this year, 37 percent did not report standardized test scores. Rick Clark, who is in charge of undergraduate admissions at the public university, said most applicants had excelled in advanced calculus courses in their third and fourth years of high school, so the admissions office wasn’t focused solely on students’ SAT math scores. math on the SAT barely touches on pre-calculus.
“I think what would be surprising is the rate at which we drop those scores.” Clark said.
More than three-quarters of Georgia Tech’s fall 2019 first-year freshmen who have taken the SAT scored above 700 (out of 800) in math.
Some families are concerned about whether the school will really treat both equally if one applicant submits a standardized test score and the other does not. Last summer and fall, students around the world were scrambling to find a standardized test center that was still open, with some driving hours to take the test in hopes that the high scores would add up and make them stand out. In some cases, admissions officials say, applicants who don’t submit test scores tend to be less competitive when measured against multiple criteria.
Pre-admission data from some schools supports this theory. The University of Pennsylvania admitted 15 percent of its applicants in the pre-admission round. About two-thirds of the applicants submitted standardized test scores, compared to three-quarters of those accepted.
There are indications that this year may actually go against students with diverse backgrounds. According to the National College Achievement Network, the number of high school seniors applying for federal financial aid dropped 9.1 percent this year compared with last year, and the decline was even greater at high schools where students’ family incomes were lower and at schools with larger minority populations.
While top-tier schools are being overwhelmed by the surge in applications, local colleges and universities and colleges that typically enroll students from low-income families and first-generation college students in their families are seeing a decline in the number of freshman applications. California State University Dominguez Hills, for example, has seen a 13 percent drop in applications this year. Applications are down 17 percent at SUNY’s so-called affiliated “university colleges,” which are often located in small cities and do not offer doctoral programs.
Data from the Common App, a standard admissions application used by more than 900 colleges and universities in the U.S., show that as of March 1, applications to colleges and universities nationwide were up 11 percent, but the number of applicants was up only 2.4 percent, meaning more applications were submitted by the same group of students. A large number of applications are concentrated at prestigious universities.
“Out of nervousness and anxiety, students are sending out more applications, and they want to ‘see how it all turns out.'” said Cynthia Rivera, a guidance counselor at New Canaan High School in New Canaan, Connecticut. Graduates of the school applied to an average of 10 colleges and universities this year, up from eight last year.
Greg Roberts, director of the undergraduate admissions office at the University of Virginia, is concerned that the surge in applications may affect the ability of admissions staff to stay focused during the review process. The university saw a nearly 17 percent increase in applications this year; 43 percent of applications did not fill out standardized test scores.
“The concern is that reading so many applications per day over a six-month period can wear out admissions staff, and the end goal becomes a number, not a person.” Roberts said, “With such a high workload, will admissions staff be able to maintain their original review and make the most appropriate and well-thought-out decisions? I don’t know the answer to that.”
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