Interesting Read on Yale reinstating standardized testing requirements

[ett]

https://news.yale.edu/2024/02/22/yal...issions-policy

Yale just announced today that they are reinstating standardized testing requirements, but they are allowing students to substitute AP or IB test scores in lieu of SAT and ACT scores. It was interesting to read his response to critics of standardized testing and how they are a barrier for disadvantaged students. Excerpt from the article below.

"Yes, students with greater resources earn higher scores on average, but they also benefit from advantages in every other element of the application. Our whole person review process allows us to consider every piece of the application, including testing, in the context of a student’s high school, neighborhood, and household.


Our research and experience with tens of thousands of applications over the past four years have demonstrated that when an application lacks testing, admissions officers place greater emphasis on other elements of the file. For students attending well-resourced high schools, substitutes for standardized tests are relatively easy to find: transcripts brim with advanced courses, teachers are accustomed to praising students’ unique classroom contributions, and activities lists are full of enrichment opportunities. A policy that results in increased emphasis on these elements, we found, has the effect of advantaging the advantaged.


For students attending high schools with fewer resources, applications without scores can inadvertently leave admissions officers with scant evidence of their readiness for Yale. When students attending these high schools include a score with their application — even a score below Yale’s median range — they give the committee greater confidence that they are likely to achieve academic success in college. Our research strongly suggests that requiring scores of all applicants serves to benefit and not disadvantage students from under-resourced backgrounds."

[georgiegirl]

Personally I like the option of using AP and IB scores instead of SAT and ACT. I think all schools should offer that option. At least with AP scores, those tests more accurately reflect college readiness since they are about learning higher level information, synthesizing it, constructing arguments, and (in some classes) expressing your thoughts in writing. SAT and ACT don’t really reflect knowledge, and you can game them with a lot of prep. You can’t really game AP tests.

Schools can do whatever works for them. Im sure it’s incredible hard to select students when there are so many applicants who look well-qualified on paper.


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[ett]

Personally I like the option of using AP and IB scores instead of SAT and ACT. I think all schools should offer that option. At least with AP scores, those tests more accurately reflect college readiness since they are about learning higher level information, synthesizing it, constructing arguments, and (in some classes) expressing your thoughts in writing. SAT and ACT don’t really reflect knowledge, and you can game them with a lot of prep. You can’t really game AP tests.

Schools can do whatever works for them. Im sure it’s incredible hard to select students when there are so many applicants who look well-qualified on paper.


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I also like the option of sending AP/IB scores. Of course, this only works for AP classes you take by junior year, though I'm sure anyone applying to Yale would have taken a few AP classes by then!

It seems that going test optional should take one stress off kids as they can choose not to submit if they don't do well, but this hasn't been the case for DS2. He feels that by not submitting a score it's telling the school that you didn't do well on it, hence why you're not submitting it.

[KrisM]

The University of Michigan went test flexible for COVID. They said AP or IB in place of SAT/ACT was allowed. They just announced they are going completely year optional and won't look at AP scores for admissions anymore.

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[gatorsmom]

The University of Michigan went test flexible for COVID. They said AP or IB in place of SAT/ACT was allowed. They just announced they are going completely year optional and won't look at AP scores for admissions anymore.

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It’s interesting that they appear to have come to the opposite conclusions from Yale. So, what criteria will they use?

[KrisM]

It’s interesting that they appear to have come to the opposite conclusions from Yale. So, what criteria will they use?

I assume things like class selection, GPA, essays and whatever else falls into "holistic" that the test-optional schools use. The article I read didn't specify.

[wendibird22]

Dartmouth is also going back to requiring SAT/ACT, citing similar findings.

That said, the context of who applies to Ivy schools matters. "Even a score below Yale's median range" is going to be a significantly higher test score that the average applicant at non-ivy's.

The highly selective institutions are also seeing significant increases in the size of the applicant pool once they went test optional and so just from a workflow standpoint, it makes sense for them to reinstate test scores as a way to reign in the applicant pool a bit.

[erosenst]

Anecdotal - but I'm also hearing that even AP class scores (not the administered tests, but grades in class) got inflated during COVID. We know of a young woman who had a 4.0 unweighted, with APs, but a 27 on her ACT and struggled a bit at a 'good but not highly competitive' university. And to the point at least one person made above - the admissions offices are drowning and this should help stem the tide at least a little.

[Kindra178]

Check out David Leonhardt on this issue. I stopped interviewing for my alma mater about 8 years ago when things were crazy competitive but worse now. Because of where we live, I interviewed kids from all walks of life. Some of the very urban charter schoolkids were taking algebra 2 as seniors where the suburban kids were in bc calc or beyond. The test is definitely a unifier but schools often can’t be compared


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[hbridge]

Check out David Leonhardt on this issue. I stopped interviewing for my alma mater about 8 years ago when things were crazy competitive but worse now. Because of where we live, I interviewed kids from all walks of life. Some of the very urban charter schoolkids were taking algebra 2 as seniors where the suburban kids were in bc calc or beyond. The test is definitely a unifier but schools often can’t be compared


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YEP. Not all high schools offer AP courses!