Harvard will require Test Scores starting next year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is for current Juniors? my kid has no interest in Harvard, but this seems really really late to make this call for this class

How? A kid can still take SAT/ACT in the summer or early fall. And in reality, if your kid had interest in Harvard or any other T20 school, they should have been planning to attempt the SAT in junior year. Very few kids today just say, oh I'm not trying the SAT/ACT and will just apply to T20 schools. Most are at least taking the test, with some test prep. Then they evaluate and decide whether to submit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:test optional was a failed experiment

it wasn't an experiment it was due to testing centers closing during the pandemic

CA schools didn't go TO because of covid.

Am genuinely curious how the UC's are going to respond to the changes. UCLA had almost 145k applicants this year! Cal Berkeley had 125k applicants. Those numbers are... wild.

UC schools went Test Blind completely independent of Covid. I am fine with Test Blind or Test Required, but TO has been the absolute worst.

Supposedly, they are creating their own test...not sure if that is still happening or what. I don't see them ever returning to SAT/ACT.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of the College Board and have some thoughts about a private company having the kind of power they have over educational outcomes in America without much oversight at all.

But also, I am not super optimistic about California's ability to develop a test that substitutes for the SAT and ACT without reintroducing the same issues that made them go test blind in the first place.

Should be interesting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is for current Juniors? my kid has no interest in Harvard, but this seems really really late to make this call for this class

How? A kid can still take SAT/ACT in the summer or early fall. And in reality, if your kid had interest in Harvard or any other T20 school, they should have been planning to attempt the SAT in junior year. Very few kids today just say, oh I'm not trying the SAT/ACT and will just apply to T20 schools. Most are at least taking the test, with some test prep. Then they evaluate and decide whether to submit

Makes me wonder if part of the underlying motivation to go back to requiring scores is just to make the process of reviewing applications easier and less costly? Because if you're right and the superstar Ivy-bound kids are mostly already testing, then in practice the impact of going test-required just means fewer applications to sift through. Mostly, at least?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is for current Juniors? my kid has no interest in Harvard, but this seems really really late to make this call for this class

How? A kid can still take SAT/ACT in the summer or early fall. And in reality, if your kid had interest in Harvard or any other T20 school, they should have been planning to attempt the SAT in junior year. Very few kids today just say, oh I'm not trying the SAT/ACT and will just apply to T20 schools. Most are at least taking the test, with some test prep. Then they evaluate and decide whether to submit

actually, lots of CA kids skip them entirely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is for current Juniors? my kid has no interest in Harvard, but this seems really really late to make this call for this class

How? A kid can still take SAT/ACT in the summer or early fall. And in reality, if your kid had interest in Harvard or any other T20 school, they should have been planning to attempt the SAT in junior year. Very few kids today just say, oh I'm not trying the SAT/ACT and will just apply to T20 schools. Most are at least taking the test, with some test prep. Then they evaluate and decide whether to submit

actually, lots of CA kids skip them entirely

Well, to the extent that is true, it never made sense for students that were applying to Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:test optional was a failed experiment

it wasn't an experiment it was due to testing centers closing during the pandemic

CA schools didn't go TO because of covid.

Am genuinely curious how the UC's are going to respond to the changes. UCLA had almost 145k applicants this year! Cal Berkeley had 125k applicants. Those numbers are... wild.

UC schools went Test Blind completely independent of Covid. I am fine with Test Blind or Test Required, but TO has been the absolute worst.

Supposedly, they are creating their own test...not sure if that is still happening or what. I don't see them ever returning to SAT/ACT.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of the College Board and have some thoughts about a private company having the kind of power they have over educational outcomes in America without much oversight at all.

But also, I am not super optimistic about California's ability to develop a test that substitutes for the SAT and ACT without reintroducing the same issues that made them go test blind in the first place.

Should be interesting!

NY State has been doing it for over 100 yrs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:test optional was a failed experiment

it wasn't an experiment it was due to testing centers closing during the pandemic

CA schools didn't go TO because of covid.

Am genuinely curious how the UC's are going to respond to the changes. UCLA had almost 145k applicants this year! Cal Berkeley had 125k applicants. Those numbers are... wild.

The UCs were moving to TO before covid. Covid just accelerated the process. It won't change anything. They have more than enough highly qualified applicants to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is for current Juniors? my kid has no interest in Harvard, but this seems really really late to make this call for this class

Yes, it is and yes, I agree! When we were on spring break visits, admission reps at two schools said they could not state definitively whether they would be test optional or not for Fall 2025 admission. My junior is now signed up for the June SAT thanks to the uncertainty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:test optional was a failed experiment

it wasn't an experiment it was due to testing centers closing during the pandemic

some experiments arise out of necessity

I think test optional doesn't make sense for the most selective and most popular institutions. But for others I think it still makes sense to let students present themselves with the information they feel most reflects their strengths. I think it should go back to how it was pre-Covid--with some institutions being test optional and with going test optional being a relative rarity rather the decision to go optional becoming a sort of overall game theory type decision for all students.

Why not for "most selective" or popular institutions? Each school is free to decide how best to select applicants. Most selective schools have been telling us for decades that test scores are NOT the most important factor in selection, and they still won't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yep.
Whatever will the 4/4.6 1390 poor test-taking children of DCUM do?

ED to Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:test optional was a failed experiment

it wasn't an experiment it was due to testing centers closing during the pandemic

CA schools didn't go TO because of covid.

Am genuinely curious how the UC's are going to respond to the changes. UCLA had almost 145k applicants this year! Cal Berkeley had 125k applicants. Those numbers are... wild.

The UCs were moving to TO before covid. Covid just accelerated the process. It won't change anything. They have more than enough highly qualified applicants to choose from.

Again, UCs are TEST BLIND. That's different than TO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is for current Juniors? my kid has no interest in Harvard, but this seems really really late to make this call for this class

How? A kid can still take SAT/ACT in the summer or early fall. And in reality, if your kid had interest in Harvard or any other T20 school, they should have been planning to attempt the SAT in junior year. Very few kids today just say, oh I'm not trying the SAT/ACT and will just apply to T20 schools. Most are at least taking the test, with some test prep. Then they evaluate and decide whether to submit

Makes me wonder if part of the underlying motivation to go back to requiring scores is just to make the process of reviewing applications easier and less costly? Because if you're right and the superstar Ivy-bound kids are mostly already testing, then in practice the impact of going test-required just means fewer applications to sift through. Mostly, at least?

A few less applications but huge changes IMO. Just don't think it's going to be the game changer that "Super stats kid" parents expect it to be. There will still be 45K+ applications for 2K spots at Harvard. It will still be highly rejective. Your 1580 high stats kid is still most likely getting rejected---and there will still be kids with 1500 who get accepted. And those parents will still be mad their precious snowflake who is so smart didn't get in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is for current Juniors? my kid has no interest in Harvard, but this seems really really late to make this call for this class

How? A kid can still take SAT/ACT in the summer or early fall. And in reality, if your kid had interest in Harvard or any other T20 school, they should have been planning to attempt the SAT in junior year. Very few kids today just say, oh I'm not trying the SAT/ACT and will just apply to T20 schools. Most are at least taking the test, with some test prep. Then they evaluate and decide whether to submit

actually, lots of CA kids skip them entirely

Not CA kids who plan to apply to T20 schools. But yes, if mostly planing UC/Cal State schools I'd skip it as well. If your financial budget includes only in-state schools (or schools that give great merit), then TO will be fine for CA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/04/11/harvard-reinstates-sat-act-admissions-requirement/

Harvard is joining the list of school requiring test scores for applications.

I expected Penn, Hopkins, Northwestern to switch back before H —due to their top Engineering—-but it is only a matter of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yep.
Whatever will the 4/4.6 1390 poor test-taking children of DCUM do?

ED to Tulane.

Best.