Last week, Yale followed Dartmouth’s lead and announced that they would once again require applicants to submit standardized test scores for college admissions. Moving in the opposite direction, the University of Michigan declared that their temporary test-optional policy would remain permanent for future classes.
The Yale announcement cited as a rationale something that we found very clearly in our own study of college admissions – SAT/ACT scores, while not perfect, are fairer to low-income applicants than essays, extracurriculars, and other parts of the application. They sum it up nicely: “Our researchers and readers found that when admissions officers reviewed applications with no scores, they placed greater weight on other parts of the application. But this shift frequently worked to the disadvantage of applicants from lower socio-economic backgrounds.”
Yale emphasizes the relative fairness of college test scores. Test optional advocates might respond that they are not against SAT/ACT scores, they just want to empower students to make their own choice. Choice is good, right?