Although the COVID era initiated a “test optional” policy at colleges across the country, eager to attract applicants, the admission process has now gone full circle. The number of students taking the SAT is back to pre-COVID days as many colleges nationwide reinstated test scores as a requirement in the application process.
“Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants,” stated the Dean of Admissions at MIT, who added that this requirement “is more equitable and transparent than a test-optional policy.”
The SAT also serves a multitude of other purposes, such as allowing students to test out of freshman year of college placement exams and making them eligible for many merit scholarships that require test scores.
It’s not just students applying to the most competitive colleges that are preparing for – and acing -- their standardized tests. In 2002, 134 students earned a perfect score on the ACT (an alternative test to the SAT), while that feat was achieved by 2,542 students last year.
The vast increase in the competitiveness of the college application process has also resulted in the escalation of the number of students applying “early decision” to their top choice institution. Colleges are greatly concerned with their “yield” – the percent of accepted students who enroll. So many of the top schools greatly favor students who apply “early decision,” promising to enroll if accepted.
This year, of the 54,000 high school seniors who applied to Duke University, the 6,000 who applied early decision were three times as likely to gain acceptance, according to the N.Y. Times article, “This Is Peak College Admissions Insanity.”
Other colleges, with a greatly increased acceptance rate of early decision over regular applicants, include American University (86% to 39%), Barnard College (33% to 9%), Boston University (25% to 13%), Cornell University (19% to 5%), Dartmouth College (21% to 5%), Northeastern University (33% to 7%), Northwestern University (22% to 6%), The College of New Jersey (97% to 63%), University of Miami (57% to 6%), University of Pennsylvania (16% to 5%), University of Virginia (45% to 9%), Villanova University (55% to 18%), and Williams College (31% to 8%).
College bound students, aware of the current trends, would do well to prepare for their standardized exams and identify early the college of their dreams.
Susan Alaimo is the founder & director of Collegebound Review, offering PSAT/SAT® preparation & private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362
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