Are you in the Class of 2023 or 2024? You may be wondering if you need a test score to apply to college. In this blog, we’ll go over the press releases from colleges and universities regarding their testing policies for the Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 application season.
2022-2023 Admissions Cycle
As of March 2022, we found that 63.5% of the top 200 schools have announced test optional, test flexible, or test suggested policies for the next application round. Though test submission at many of these schools is strongly encouraged or likely to correlate with higher admissions rates, it is not a requirement of application. 5.5% of colleges have announced test required policies. Notable test required schools include Georgetown, UNC Chapel Hill, Georgia Tech, and Florida State University. 8.5% of top 200 universities, including all colleges in the University of California system, are currently test blind, so they will not accept SAT or ACT scores, though some may consider AP scores or other exams such as the TOEFL. Finally, 22.5% of colleges have not announced their testing policies yet.
As schools start to suggest that more students submit test scores, and fewer students have issues accessing the test, we are beginning to enter a phase where we see a difference in admit rates based on whether people submit test scores or not. While in the previous year, many students did not have access to tests, test availability has increased greatly. If you don’t explain why you don’t have a test score, and you’re not from a context where a test score doesn’t make sense, a lack of a test score might start to hurt you. Many schools now discriminate against students without test scores.
2023-2024 Admissions Cycle
Obviously, schools can change their test policies whenever they want. But, 38.5% of the top 200 schools have already announced they will continue their test optional, test blind, or test flexible policies through at least 2024. If you have a phobia of tests, you can still find a school that is test optional or test blind in the top 200 list. However, over half of schools have not announced their policies for the Class of 2024. So if you’re in that class, we still recommend that you prepare. Having a test score is also proving to correlate with much higher acceptance rates at many top 200 universities.
Even though we’ve given the stats, please be careful about the fine print. Some colleges may still require test scores if your GPA is below a certain level. Many schools also still use test scores to determine merit scholarships and placement in an honors college.
