Applying Test Optional

A few days ago I talked about the conversations with college admissions officers that I attended last week.  It was a day full of information and updates so I could (and likely will) write tons of posts related to information from the meetings.  

One of the conversations we had with college admissions officers was about the difficult situation students often find them selves in when trying to decide if they should apply to college with their test scores or as test optional.  The admissions reps that spoke directly to this topic said that they are seeing applications pretty much split 50/50 on if kids are applying with or without test scores and that they are being very specific not to read anything into the fact that a student didn't choose to submit a score.

The decision "Should I submit my test scores?"  is a difficult question to answer because it depends.  During the educational sessions and meetings with colleges their guidance to helping you answer that question is to ask back, "Will this test score contribute to the strength of my application?"  

So how do you figure that out?  You need to look at every college you are applying to closely.  You need to double check their requirements for admission and for your intended major.  You also should review what their scholarship situation looks like regarding evaluating students with and without test scores. (For example, many colleges will grant scholarships to students with a certain GPA and test score, but to qualify for a scholarship without a test score the GPA requirement is higher meaning that some students might qualify for scholarships if they submit their test scores, but wouldn't if they don't.  And you have to look at that for your situation in particular.)  

Every college will have data shared on their middle 50% for test scores.  The middle 50% designates the range of students who are in their average pool of accepted students.  That does mean that 25% of their accepted students have scores that are above that range as well as an additional 25% who have scores below that range.  If you are in their middle 50% then you can, typically, feel confident that your scores will help contribute to your application.

Please realize that this means that you might be applying test optional to one college and with test scores to another and this is ok.  If you have questions about test optional and submitting test scores, don't hesitate to stop and see me.