Working in admissions and having two kids have reinforced how no human being can be evaluated in two dimensions, and that no test of any sort can encapsulate all the talents and abilities in anyone. Researchers know the value of standardized testing in predicting freshman GPA in college is miniscule — once you account for GPA in high school and its effect on freshman grades; beyond freshman year, standardized tests predict virtually nothing. They are normed against other students who take the test, not the learning the tests purport to measure, and they largely measure the ability to choose quickly from among four answers given. It is seldom in college that you have only a few seconds to choose the right answer; and in many college classes, the “right” answer is not even the point.

We collect tests after students enroll for research purposes, so we know that those who did not submit tests for admission have ACT scores about six points lower than average. After one year at DePaul, these students have GPAs that are 7/100ths of a point lower than those who submitted tests and who had the higher scores. When you control for other factors, that difference (which is not statistically significant in the first place) evaporates. In three colleges, test optional students actually had higher GPAs than test submitters. Freshman retention was the same for both groups; less than one percentage point separated them.

We use a series of short essays to evaluate those characteristics that have been proven to predict academic success and graduation, and these are scored by readers in a blind review, then added to the files in the review process. As is the case with every student, however, high school grades in rigorous, college preparatory classes carry the greatest weight.

I would refer them to the Bates Study of 25 years of test optional admissions and the outstanding results (both academically and in life) that students there have experienced, without ever submitting a standardized test scores.  With the recent announcement of Transylvania, 42 of the Top 100 USNWR Liberal Arts Colleges are now test optional.