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Laura Solomon
Professor Jennifer Courtney
Writing 2010-062
16 November 2015
Test-Optional Policies for Admissions
Students all over the U.S. are nervously waiting moments before they are
handed a standardized test. Schools seem to indoctrinate students into
thinking standardized tests determine their entire future, which in a way they
do. The ACT and its counterpart, the SAT, have become one of the largest
determining factors in the college-admissions process. We might step back
and ask ourselves, where did it all begin? Standardized tests first appeared in
China thousands of years ago. In order to gain a government job, Chinese
people were required to be tested on how well they knew Confucian
philosophy. After the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, teenaged students
began entering the traditional workplace, and standardized tests were used
to efficiently test a large number of employees. In the 20th century, the
scores were used as a basis for admission into a university (Fletcher). As
time wore on, these standardized tests evolved into the four-hour exams
they are today, and people started questioning their place on college
applications.
Some researchers view standardized tests as a necessary aspect of
college applications, because they assume it is the best predictor of college
success. Other people believe there is too much emphasis on these scores,

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and other facets of the student need to be looked at when deciding if the
individual should be accepted into a college. Universities tend to believe that
standardized testing is the easiest way to predict a students college
success. Wayne Camara, a featured author in Educational Measurement,
describes college success as a culmination of college GPA, college credit
courses, and the time it takes to get a degree. Using Camaras definition of
college success, could standardized test scores really access the intellectual
ability of a student in order to predict college success? Most researchers will
argue that standardized test scores cannot fully access a students ability, so
it is unreasonable to use the scores in predicting how well the student will do
in college. Usually researchers will suggest a holistic review of applicants
instead. Holistic review is a flexible, individualized way of assessing an
applicant's capabilities by which balanced consideration is given to
experiences, attributes, and academic metrics. When universities use a
holistic approach, they can fully assess what the student is capable of.
Another point of discussion I will talk about, is the limitations
standardized tests in college admissions put on potential students. Students
are being deprived of the education of their choice because universities have
placed such an emphasis on standardized test scores. Educators and
policymakers across the country are subjecting the ACT and SAT to
unprecedented scrutiny. Minority and disadvantaged students are limited
when it comes to getting into college because they have not had the
opportunities or help that privileged students have had on standardized test

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taking. Most standardized tests have a fee in order to take them, so low
income students do not have the amount of money needed to take tests
more than once and sometimes not even at all. Since the fair education of
students is at stake, this topic needs to be addressed immediately. Instead of
colleges putting such an emphasis on standardized test scores for admission
decisions, they should have a test-optional policy so students are not
required to submit their scores.
Predictor gaps
Many studies have been done on the best predictors for college success,
but a lot of the research is very bias. In my opinion, more research needs to
be conducted. There are so many different authors that have their own
opinion about the best predictor of college success and what to use on
college applications, that there are no clear conclusions. There are many
gaps when policies of college admissions are discussed because different
authors have conflicting viewpoints so a clear solution cannot be addressed.
People have noticed the huge reliance on standardized scores in college
admissions, which has generated a growing number of complaints. Some
applicants, especially members of underrepresented minority groups, believe
that the test is culturally biased. Other critics argue that high school GPA and
results on SAT subject tests are better than scores on the SAT reasoning test
at predicting college success. Also, there is mounting evidence that
standardized test scores are correlated not only with race but also with
parental income and education, which produces an upward social class bias

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in the profile of admitted students, which causes a huge gap in research and
needs to be focused on (Young, Kobrin 34).
Owing partly to these concerns, growing numbers of four-year colleges
are moving away from standardized tests and doing a more holistic review
process. There are also some universities giving students the option of
submitting scores or eliminating them altogether from consideration in the
admission decision. At the beginning of 2010, the website of the National
Center for Fair and Open Testing, listed the names of more than 830 fouryear colleges that do not use the SAT or the ACT test to admit substantial
numbers of freshmen. Many of these schools are nonselective institutions
that have never required standardized tests, but momentum is picking up
and more institutions are accepting a test-optional policy (Espenshade,
Chang).
Even though there is a substantial amount of colleges switching their
admissions process, there are still studies being conducted by researchers
that try to sway colleges different ways. Richard Sawyer has used many
mathematical calculations to figure out the probabilities of the usefulness of
high school GPA and test scores in making college admission decisions.
Analysis of data from some institutions suggest that high school GPA is more
useful than test scores in situations involving low selectivity in admissions
and minimal to average academic performance in college. In contrast, test
scores are more useful than high school GPA in situations involving high
selectivity and high academic performance. In conclusion, high school grades

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are more useful than test scores in making admission decisions, but test
scores have incremental usefulness (Sawyer 97). To fix this highly debated
topic of what universities should correct in their admission process Geoffrey
Maruyama, an Educational Researcher, says that universities should not
measure a students college readiness based off a single assessment. He
suggests to present readiness in terms of probabilities and likelihoods rather
than simply ready or not (Maruyama 259).
Some researchers think the ACT is the best choice when it comes to
evaluating student success rates, but others believe its the SAT, or high
school GPA, or other standardized tests. I want to address this debate
because why does it have to be one or the other? All these researchers I
have mentioned make it so black and white and argue one or the other but
why cant it be a culmination of all of the predictors. I want to discuss
colleges who use a holistic admissions process and whether they actually
evaluate the student as a whole or if they still put a lot of emphasis on their
standardized test scores. I also want to talk about a test-optional admissions
process and how potential students can benefit from it.
Holistic Review Process
Most of the country's highly selective colleges and universities have
holistic admissions, but what exactly does this mean for an applicant?
Holistic as I mentioned before can be defined as an emphasis on the whole
person, not just select pieces that make up the whole person. If a college has
holistic admissions, the school's admissions officers consider the whole

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applicant, not just empirical data like a GPA or SAT scores. Colleges with
holistic admissions are not simply looking for students with good grades.
They want to admit interesting students who will contribute to the campus
community in meaningful ways. Under a holistic admissions policy, a student
with a 3.8 GPA might be turned down while an award-winning trumpet player
with a 3.0 GPA might get accepted. The student who wrote a stellar essay
might get preference over the student who had higher ACT scores but a
bland essay. In general, holistic admissions take into account a student's
interests, passions, special talents, and personality (Geiser, Santelices).
To evaluate the holistic review process in admissions more, I used
information from an interview conducted at the University of Utah. Jenny
Anderson, an admissions representative for the University of Utah, explained
that the University of Utah is known for using a holistic review process when
analyzing applications. But then Anderson further disclosed that the ACT is
actually the primary determinate on admissions for freshman and transfer
students at the university. They think the ACT is the best way to predict how
students will perform in college. The ACT is also used in class placement for
students. High school GPA is also something the university uses heavily in
determining admissions. In many cases when students have a lower ACT
score; they first look at any possible reasons that could have affected the
score. The university is more willing to take a lower score if there is
reasoning behind it, but in most cases there is usually a point where the
students score is too low so it is not considered. That score is dependent on

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the student and their circumstances. Although Anderson mentioned other

considerations that the university makes, she still said the University of Utah
believes that the ACT is the best way to determine whether or not a student
will be successful in college (Anderson).
With the information disclosed in the interview, it made me wonder how
many universities say they have a holistic review admissions process but still
rely heavily on standardized test scores. When I personally was going
through the application process, each university I applied to had a brochure
that had a Acceptance range of ACT scores and high school GPAs. If I was
below the range, I would have not been admitted and the admissions office
may have even looked right over my application. Research shows that the
number of applications at most top colleges is soaring. This is because more
students are each applying to more colleges. The size of admission staffs at
most colleges have not increased or changed over the years, so they are
using ACT/SAT scores to make a fast, easy cut of the applicant pool
(Anderson). To me this is unfair and dishonest. Universities say they have a
holistic review process but then still rely so much on standardized test
scores. Since this solution of a holistic review process is still relying on
standardized tests, I believe universities should move to a test-optional
policy and not require test scores at all and legitimately view the student
holistically.
Test-Optional Policies for Admissions

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Standardized test scores have been proven to have a correlation with the
success of students in universities, but this topic still is highly debated. An
issue that is often in the debate of standardized tests is the point that the
tests are not fair to minorities. Small universities are able to choose more
diverse applicants while larger universities cant (Zwick 423). This is a
problem because minority groups often will be looked over by larger
institutions. Disadvantaged students have not had the same opportunity to
be educated, which leads to low test scores. When students get low scores
on these entrance exams, they are forced to go to a less selective school or
not go to college at all. Colleges that admit based off these scores are
limiting the education that students could potentially gain (Hyman).
In order to fix this limitation problem, universities could experiment for
themselves if a test-optional policy would work to find more diverse
applicants. Liliana M. Garces, a researcher at Penn State said that, higher
education institutions have started to embrace the need to have racially and
ethnically diverse student bodies because of the documented benefits this
brings students, such as enhanced critical and complex thinking skills,
improved cross-racial understanding and cultural awareness, and better
preparation for employment and leadership in an increasingly diverse and
global workforce. With a test-optional policy, universities would be able to
have more diverse students apply and get accepted. For example, Wake
Forest University is a school in Winston-Salem, N.C., and is one of the most
prominent schools that have moved to test optional. By making the

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admission test-optional the school received a large pool of applicants that

was more diverse (Hoover, Supiano). William C. Hiss and Valerie W. Franks,
prepared a study for college/university admission offices to consider the
value of implementing optional standardized testing policies. The study takes
testing and cumulative GPA data from thirty-three public and private
colleges/universities. The results support more students applying and
successfully completing colleges for those who otherwise, if ACT/SAT tests
were required, would not apply.
Another great example is Providence College, a small liberal arts college,
which has always tried to admit applicants that are from minority groups. In
the admission process they focus more on the grades the applicants received
in high school and what classes they took. They are now test-optional and do
not focus on standardized tests. Also, their scholarships are more need based
than merit based. This makes it so applicants that cannot afford school have
more of a chance to go and succeed. They realize that there is a lot at stake
with this issue of standardized tests, and they treat it with care (Shanley
431). Charles Rooney talks to college administration, trying to get their
attention to the issues of using ACT/SAT scores. He says that universities
need to deemphasize the ACT and SAT in the admissions process, in terms of
diversity and quality of applicants. He also adds the idea of the
underrepresented groups that dont have the opportunity to get high
ACT/SAT scores. Joseph A. Soares simply says that universities should make
their admission process test optional or no test score required at all. He gives

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examples of many of the flaws in the SAT and how it restricts many different
types of social groups to participate and excel (Soares). Because of the
emphasis put on test scores, most students who would apply to colleges if
they were test-optional would not end up applying at all because the
application process of most schools limits the schools that can be attended.
Final Examination
Think about what would happen if all colleges stopped using the ACT or
SAT scores on their applications. Students would spend less of their time
doing test preparation and taking prep-classes, and more of their time
focusing on schoolwork. It could even impact the primary education system.
If colleges stopped judging students by their scores, maybe elementary
schools would stop using these scores to benchmark the students, and they
too would find a new way of gauging the progress of a student. A lot of
people are calling for a change to the educational system. If colleges
reconstruct their application process, it could be the domino effect the
system needs to see. There are too many discrepancies between people for
colleges to still be using these scores as an indicator of intellectual abilities.
Standardized tests are a barrier to many students college aspirations
and access. On a student-by-student basis, ACT and SAT scores add very
little to the prediction of student success after accounting for prior academic
success in high school (Geiser, Santelices). Scholarly researchers have also
known for quite some time that standardized test results have differential
validity for various groups of students; the college entrance exams over

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predict college success for some groups of students and under predict
college success for other groups of students (Zwick). For example, ACT/SAT
scores under predict first-year grades for females and over predict first-year
grades for males. In this research alone it proves that colleges should not
rely on standardized tests and move toward other facets of the students.
It is obvious that many authors, researchers, and universities have
completed a tremendous amount of studies on this topic of standardized
testing. To contribute to the conversation, I believe universities should move
away from placing so much weight put on standardized testing and move
toward a more reasonable predictor. If universities could make the change,
then students wouldnt be as limited in the colleges they can attend. This
topic is relevant because students are being deprived of higher education
because of their test scores. Minority students are not able to go to college
because of the cutoff college admissions have placed on these tests. More
schools should experiment with a test-optional application process and see
what results they get back. If universities are not willing to experiment with a
test-optional policy then they should at least reevaluate their admissions
process and come up with a better way to assess if the student is college
ready.

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Work Cited
Anderson, Jenny. "University of Utah ACT Impact." Personal interview by
Sydney Park. Salt Lake City, Utah. 4 Oct. 2015.
Camara, Wayne. "Defining and measuring college and career readiness: A
validation

framework." Educational Measurement: Issues and

Practice 32.4 (2013): 16-27.

Espenshade, Thomas J., and C. Y. Chang. "Standardized admission tests,
college performance, and campus diversity." Unpublished paper. An
earlier version of this paper was presented at the Conference on
Rethinking College Admissions, Wake Forest University. 2009.
Fletcher, Dan. "Standardized Testing." Time 11 Dec. 2009. Web. 01 Oct.
2015.
Garces, Liliana M. "Aligning diversity, quality, and equity: The implications of
legal and public policy developments for promoting racial diversity in
graduate studies." American Journal of Education 120.4 (2014): 457480.
Geiser, Saul and Maria Veronica Santelices. "Validity of High-School Grades in
Predicting Student Success beyond the Freshman Year: High-School
Record vs. Standardized Tests as Indicators of Four-Year College
Outcomes. Center for Studies in Higher Education Research &
Occasional Paper Series: CSHE. 6.07. (2007). Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Hiss, William C., and Valerie W. Franks. "Defining promise: Optional
standardized testing policies in American college and university

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admissions." Report of the National Association for College Admission

Counseling (2014). Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Hoover, Eric, and Beckie Supiano. "Wake Forest U. Joins Ranks of TestOptional Colleges." The Chronicle of Higher Education 39.54 (2008):
A21. Print.
Hyman, Joshua. ACT for All: The effect of mandatory college entrance exams
on postsecondary attainment and choice. Working paper, University of
Michigan, 2013.
Maruyama, Geoffrey. "Assessing College Readiness Should We Be Satisfied
With ACT or Other Threshold Scores?." Educational Researcher 41.7
(2012): 252-261.
Rooney, Charles and B. Schaeffer. "Test Scores Do Not Equal Merit."
FairTest.org (1998). Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Sawyer, Richard. "Beyond correlations: Usefulness of high school GPA and
test scores in making college admissions decisions." Applied
measurement in education 26.2 (2013): 89-112.
Shanley, Brian J. "Test-Optional Admission at a Liberal Arts College: A
Founding Mission Affirmed." Harvard Educational Review 77.4 (2007):
429-35.
Soares, Joseph A. SAT wars: The case for test-optional college admissions.
Teachers College Press, 2012.

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Young, John W. and Jennifer L. Kobrin. "Differential validity, differential

prediction, and college admission testing: A comprehensive review and
analysis." College Board (2001-6): 1-41.
Zwick, Rebecca. "College Admissions in Twenty-First-Century America: The
Role of Grades, Tests, and Games of Chance." Harvard Educational
Review 77.4 (2007): 419-29.