Testing the Waters on Test-Optional Admissions

For a moment, mandatory testing appeared to be a pre-pandemic relic of the college admissions system; but now, those dreary tests many of us once begrudgingly took in high school are experiencing quite the comeback.

Last week, Yale University announced it would discontinue its test-optional admissions process for the Class of 2029, joining Dartmouth as the second Ivy League school to end its required testing hiatus. Yale cited internal findings that the current policy can disadvantage first-generation, low income, and rural students, and announced it would adopt a “test flexible” regime under which applicants will be required to submit scores from the SAT or ACT, or else release all their AP or IB test scores.

Though we’re often loath to take cues from our Connecticut counterparts, Yale’s announcement may be reason to rethink our own admissions policies.

Harvard primarily caters to the offspring of the elite: An estimated two thirds of our students hail from families in the top 20 percent of the income distribution and the recent demise of race-based affirmative action only further hinders other initiatives to combat Harvard’s homogeneity.

As we’ve argued before — especially given the current privileged makeup of the College’s student body — advancing racial and socioeconomic diversity must be our admissions lodestar.

Harvard should therefore closely monitor both internal data and the results of Yale’s and Dartmouth’s returns to testing when considering the most appropriate long-term admissions system.

However, abruptly turning the page on our test-optional stance would be ill-advised.

For one, Harvard is already committed to not requiring standardized test scores for the next two admissions cycles. To reverse course now would be to renege on a promise made to thousands of potential applicants who may have already begun preparing for college applications under the presumption that testing will remain optional for Harvard.

Furthermore, test-optional policies have only become popular in recent years. Harvard should take advantage of this period of flux to gather data and examine the outcomes of varying admissions regimes. Hasty decision making while the aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fall of affirmative action are still playing out would make isolating the effects of various test policies on admissions outcomes practically impossible.

Existing evidence suggests that standardized tests are strongly correlated with academic aptitude: Harvard economics professor Raj Chetty found that SAT and ACT scores are highly predictive of success post-college. Studies like these make a compelling case for Harvard to resume testing requirements. For now, gathering more data and closely monitoring how test-optional policies impact the application pool will equip Harvard with the necessary information to craft the strongest possible testing policy.

Regardless of what the University ultimately decides, it would behoove them to disclose their reasoning. Yale’s decision was accompanied with a clear explanation of its logic, reassuring stakeholders that Yale was operating in the interest of advancing diversity. Harvard should do the same.

Ultimately, the onus is on admissions officers to use the information available to them to select a diverse and talented class. Test scores are one valuable piece of information; but they are precisely that — one piece of valuable information. Only together with a holistic review of a student’s character and environment can they provide meaningful insight into their candidacy.

Harvard must carefully weigh the evidence before it reaches a final judgment on admissions testing; the decision is far too weighty to play “guess and check.”

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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