In 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, most higher education institutions opted to eliminate the requirement that applicants submit standardized test scores such as the ACT and SAT. The reasoning for going “test optional” was twofold: it was not possible to administer the tests safely, and there was a shared understanding that the most deleterious effects of the pandemic were exacerbating inequities in ways that disadvantaged students from under-resourced communities.
This was a massive uncontrolled experiment, and the results have varied widely.
Four years later, a number of the nation’s most selective colleges and universities have announced they are going back to requiring standardized test scores from applicants. Macalester studied the issue, and we have decided that remaining test optional is an effective way to make our college more accessible to the greatest number of qualified students. 
Dr. Suzanne M. Rivera
A task force composed of faculty and staff examined the policy’s effect on our application volume, applicant diversity, and student academic success metrics. We compared the predictive performance of academic ratings among students enrolled in the Fall 2021 and 2022 cohorts admitted under a test-optional policy with those students who entered Fall 2016-2018 under a test-required policy. Test-required and test-optional admissions policies yielded similar predictive power for academic success. This was true even when breaking down student performance by race, gender, and other demographic subgroups.
Importantly, our review also revealed growth in the total number of applications, as well as an increase in application rates from students of color, under the test-optional policy. In short, our test-optional policy helped attract a larger number and a wider variety of talented students in a manner that is consistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling on use of information about race in admissions.
These findings show that a holistic review of applicants can predict academic success without requiring ACT or SAT scores. It involves assessing academic performance in high school, letters of recommendation, demonstrated leadership, and life experiences that formed character, such as overcoming personal obstacles, having a paying job, and performing significant volunteer service. To the extent an applicant may wish to share scores, we don’t forbid it – scores are treated like optional supplementary information and students are given the choice about whether to provide them. Only about 40 percent do.
In an increasingly competitive higher education market, having a wide and inclusive funnel of applicants is crucial – especially for tuition-dependent institutions. Offering no apparent advantage for us, we believe a test-score requirement erects an unnecessary barrier that will be most challenging for those who are unable to afford test-prep programs.
Given that attaining a bachelor’s degree is one of the most powerful levers for economic and social mobility in this country, it’s incumbent upon institutions of higher learning to look for ways to expand access to post-secondary education. Reducing barriers – especially those that do not add value to the process – is one tool to help achieve that important goal.
Dr. Suzanne M. Rivera is president of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.
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