No SAT Score? No Problem! - UConn Drops Requirement for 3 Years

The unintended consequences of higher education’s response to a pandemic continue to reverberate, now hastening the disintegration – at least temporarily – of a staple of the college admission process.  The University of Connecticut is now the latest institutions to set aside the SAT or ACT score as the dominant determinant of admission. 

UConn, after considering the question for some time, announced plans to pilot a test-optional undergraduate admissions process for the next three application periods, studying whether the policies influence its student success rates and increase accessibility to talented students who otherwise face barriers associated with the tests.

UConn will start the test-optional applications process starting with students applying to enter as undergraduates in fall 2021, and will continue through the following two admissions cycles. During that time, the university indicated that students may submit SAT and/or ACT results if they choose, but no admissions decision would be impacted and no student would be disadvantaged if a standardized test score is not provided.

Connecticut’s flagship institution joins more than 70 institutions nationwide also have announced this spring that they are adopting pilot or permanent test-optional policies, in addition to others that adopted such policies in recent years.  The College Board, which administers the SAT, has estimated that 1 million first-time SAT takers could not take the exam this spring due to coronavirus constraints, according to published reports.

In announcing the decision, officials indicated UConn had already been considering whether to pilot a test-optional process, and the COVID-19 pandemic added impetus by exacerbating the underlying issues, since high school students currently have varying access to e-learning, preparation for the SAT and ACT, and conducive testing environments.

 “UConn has always prided itself on the holistic review, which never has relied on a single data point in the evaluation of applicants. With the move to test-optional, we feel that applicants will now have the confidence to present themselves in the best way possible, without the fear of misevaluation due to not performing as well as they hoped on the SAT or ACT,” said UConn Director of Undergraduate Admissions Vern Granger.

“As we look to bring together the next great class of Huskies, this shift will allow us to review important personal qualities and characteristics, along with academic and personal accomplishments in even greater detail,” Granger said.

Among the institutions that have announced plans to go test-optional due to the pandemic are Connecticut College, Fairfield University, Cornell University, Boston University, Tufts University, Northeastern University and the University of California system.

“I think this entire pandemic has (given us) the opportunity to rethink higher education admission practices, Joseph Duck, dean of admission at Tufts, told the Boston Globe recently.  Tufts previously announced a three-year test-optional pilot.

At UConn, officials explained, a wide variety of factors beyond SAT and ACT scores are used to help admissions offers assess applicants on a holistic basis, including the student’s academic performance, strength of coursework, involvement, and leadership qualities. Applicants will also continue to be automatically considered for merit scholarships and Honors Program eligibility regardless of whether test scores were submitted.

Given the holistic nature of UConn’s admissions review, the University can enact the test-optional approach without any negative impact to the academic potential of the students selected and to the class cohorts that choose to attend UConn, officials indicated.

UConn has studied the issue internally over the past several years, officials noted, finding that while students who score very highly on the SAT and ACT tend to be successful at very high levels, the scores are not correlated to success at other ranges. Simply put, many low-scoring applicants also had successful academic careers, though judging them only on their standardized test scores wouldn’t have predicted it.

Research has shown that test scores are highly correlated to income, and there are apparent disparities found between White and Asian students versus African American and Hispanic / LatinX peers.  Institutions that have piloted or permanently adopted test-optional applications also have found equal levels of success between those who did and did not submit scores, and the institutions’ standing in higher education rankings generally were not affected.

Peter Wilson, the deputy dean of admissions at the University of Chicago, which went test-optional in 2019, told the Globe that the policy is “a signal to (applicants) that we care about them – more than a number.”

“Ultimately, it is our hope this move will result in an even more diverse and inclusive applicant pool, which provide us a greater opportunity to build a community of students that reflect the breadth and depth of our institution,” Granger said.