NORFOLK, Va. — As graduating seniors across the country prepare for the next chapter, those planning to go to college will see some changes in the admissions process.
The coronavirus pandemic has led some colleges and universities across the country to drop SAT and ACT test score requirements. That’s the case in California, where public institutions dropped admissions testing requirements for 2021 applicants.
Jane Dané, the associate vice president of enrollment at Old Dominion University has been a part of the conversation to go test-optional.
ODU made the switch to test-optional five years ago, long before the coronavirus pandemic. Now, other institutions are joining the movement.
“I think this is definitely a turning point for universities to look at the data that they're using to admit students and what that means for predicting student success,” said Dané.
Dané said as schools drop testing requirements, they’ll focus more on other factors, such as a student’s grade point average and the academic rigor of their high school courses.
Dané said test-optional programs level the playing field for students of all backgrounds.
Through her research, she has found low-income students are at a disadvantage when it comes to preparing for admissions testing due to the cost. Some students cannot afford the cost of preparation courses. Others can’t afford to take the SAT/ACT several times to increase their chances of scoring higher.
“At ODU, we know that students who have been admitted as test-optional in the past five years have done as well as students who have no provided those scores,” said Dané.
Dané has a suggestion for students considering a gap year due to the coronavirus: think about the cost that comes with it.
“Students considering a gap year might want to look at how that time away from college will really set them back,” said Dané.
“The typical gap goal or person thinking about taking a gap year is to do an enriching activity whether it’s travel or taking an internship and those opportunities are limited right now. The financial setback that you might think of in terms of stepping away for a year would be the cost of college a year later and the impact of inflation and the cost of not entering the job market in four years.”
Dané said colleges and universities making the switch to test-optional amid the coronavirus pandemic may keep those practices long after the crisis ends.