Now that the 11/1 EA & ED 11/1 deadlines are over, and the world community gets to wait with bated breath the results of the election, I wanted to take a breather and share a rather amusing exchange I had with a senior several weeks ago.
Jonathan: “How did your SAT test go at the testing site in Arizona?”
Ucan student: “Great! I felt well prepared after all these months”
Jonathan: “Fantastic! Quick question. Did you see a lot of license plates from California?”
Ucan student:: “Are you kiddin’ ? The majority of license plates were out of states. Most were from California”.
We both laughed.
By the way, driving to Arizona to take his SAT test paid off for this student. His SAT critical reading score improved by 100 points.
You see ~Contact.FirstName~, with all the talk of colleges going test-optional (or even test blind), I knew polarized views would emerge. One group of educators, parents, and students would entirely dismiss prepping and taking standardized tests, and another group would embrace a contrarian approach including driving out of state to take these standardized tests.
A number of TheCollegePrepPro parents decided on their own volition to drive their teens to testing centers out of state as a result of test dates being constantly canceled in Southern California.
I totally understand both attitudes.
According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, as of Tuesday, more than 1,650 colleges are making standardized tests optional next year.
Kevin Browne, vice provost for academic and enrollment services at the University of Illinois at Chicago, announced in June: “We know it will be difficult for many of our potential applicants to have completed their exams by our application deadlines so we’re adjusting our review process to accommodate all students,”
As we are experiencing unprecedented times, one would expect that colleges around the country would be accommodating.
Personally, I think that colleges that are test-optional are a wonderful choice for students who struggle with standardized tests. There are a lot of hard working and smart teens who, for a variety of reasons, cannot get past say an 1100 or a 1200.
For such students, test-optional schools are an ideal choice.
But, considering that the admission process will very likely remain competitive even in the midst of a pandemic, we at TheCollegePrepPro choose to adapt a realistic and pragmatic mindset: “always seek to get an edge”.
Until top all colleges – including tiered colleges and the Ivies – uniformly adopt a test blind policy, we will continue to encourage average to strong test takers to prepare for the test.
Here is a scenario for you.
You are an admission officer and you have to make a choice between applicant A and applicant B.
Both applicants are identical in all regards. Their unweighted GPA, their transcript, and AP scores are identical, their essays are strong, their extra-curricular activities are similar.
On paper, they come across as siamese twins. But student A has not submitted any test scores while student B has 1510 on the SAT.
Again, ceteris paribus – OMG, I still remember some quotes I learned in my Latin classes at my french schools – who do you think will most likely be granted an acceptance letter?
In Pepperdine’s supplementary application, it is worth noting the following language: “Pepperdine is test-optional for 2021. Do you plan to submit either SAT I or ACT scores to be considered with your application? Please note that students who choose to apply without submitting test scores will not be penalized”.
By the way, this is the same language you find on the application platforms for even elite colleges like Yale.
So, how should parents and students interpret such language?
This is how we at TheCollegePrepPro read into this question: “ If you don’t submit a score, we will not count this against you considering the extenuating circumstances. However, if you do submit a strong SAT/ACT score, even though the evaluation of your application will obviously not be entirely based on your test score…
….your submitting a strong test score will not hurt you. On the contrary, you get a small bonus point for having persevered in prepping and figuring how and when to take a test despite all of the canceled testing dates”
Please understand. Despite our 15+ years of experience working with students in the admission trenches, we are not here to claim that we entirely know how admission officers at the elite schools will decide who gets admitted and who gets rejected in such an unprecedented admission year, but if historical precedence still holds, we seriously doubt that admission officers -especially those at top-tiered and Ivy colleges – will blindly gloss over strong SAT/ACT and subject scores.
So, if your teen could improve his or her test scores and s/he didn’t take a test as a result of the canceled sites in California, consider registering your student for a test administered out of state through the College Board to take the December 5th SAT (THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS 11/5) or through the ACT.ORG to take the December 12th ACT (THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER FOR THIS TEST IS 11/20).
The scores of tests taken in December will be used for the UC schools and private colleges whose application deadlines are in January 2021.
Want an SAT or ACT crash course? Call Melody at 626-786-5662.
To your teen’s test prep and admission success.