More U.S. colleges dropping admission exams, report finds

The image of high school juniors and seniors sweating their SAT results may be increasingly dated.

A new report from FairTest, a national organization that advocates for the elimination of college entrance exams, found that more than half of U.S. four-year colleges will be “test optional” by fall 2021. The organization found that 1,240 of the 2,330 four-year colleges and universities are now or have announced they soon will be test-optional, meaning they either no longer require standardized tests for all admissions or no longer consider them to be the dominant factor in admissions decisions.

Pennsylvania colleges and universities on the FairTest list include Allegheny, Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, Duquesne, Penn, Penn State, Seton Hill and Temple.

Colleges and universities that FairTest listed as waiving test requirements specifically for 2020 only included Clarion, Saint Vincent, Westminster and Pitt campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville.

Standardized tests like the SAT and the ACT exams, for decades the gold standard for college admissions, have come under increasing scrutiny as predictors of college success in recent years. Admissions officers are giving increasing weight to a host of indicators including grade point averages, class rankings and student portfolios.

Bob Schaeffer, interim executive director of FairTest, said the growing movement to abandon standardized tests as the major factor in college admissions bodes well for both students and colleges.

“We are especially pleased to see many public universities and access-oriented private colleges deciding that test scores are not needed to make sound admissions decision. By going test-optional, all types of schools can increase diversity without any loss of academic quality. Eliminating ACT/SAT requirements is a ‘win-win’ for students and schools,” Schaeffer said.