Test Optional for LACs

[Anonymous]

My son is interested in applying to some top LACs (RD) here on the east coast. Small, rural high school, 1460 SAT, 33 ACT, 4.0 uw, 4.7 w. Only 5 APs but the offerings are slim and he took all he could. Will have completed two more by end of this year. (Solid ECs but nothing earth shattering). Weighing whether or not to go TO when applying. Looks like the scores are okay in 2019 terms but maybe not so much in 2024. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the school. I can only speak to Swarthmore because someone asked in the info session we attended. They said “look are our published range and submit accordingly.” Which I took as submit if at 50th percentile or above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is interested in applying to some top LACs (RD) here on the east coast. Small, rural high school, 1460 SAT, 33 ACT, 4.0 uw, 4.7 w. Only 5 APs but the offerings are slim and he took all he could. Will have completed two more by end of this year. (Solid ECs but nothing earth shattering). Weighing whether or not to go TO when applying. Looks like the scores are okay in 2019 terms but maybe not so much in 2024. Thoughts?

I think your son sounds like a very strong test optional candidate. GPAs and class rank will be fantastic, so if anything the test score lags a bit behind that and doesn't add anything. That said, if there's a great school that requires tests, the 33 is fine but perhaps not going to give an extra push.

Scores either corroborate high GPAs, or they pretty much do nothing. They can't redeem a low GPA. In your son's case, it would probably just be a neutral at best.

[Anonymous]

Rule of thumb is not 50th percentile or higher but the 25th percentile or higher.

Look up the percentiles on the CDS for each school your kid is interested in. You can also see what the percentage of enrolled students actually submitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on the school. I can only speak to Swarthmore because someone asked in the info session we attended. They said “look are our published range and submit accordingly.” Which I took as submit if at 50th percentile or above.

In addition to the published range, you should also consider: 1) how strong is DCs score relative to other students at the school-if a real outlier, worth reporting; 2) what percentage of applicants submitted scores with applications at any given school - if percentage of submitters is low and DC’s scores are not above 50%, would weigh in favor of going TO; 3) how committed is the school to TO - are they approving on a year by year basis, adopted TO indefinitely, were they TO before COVID? TO is generally a safe option with SLACs, but the more comfortable they are with TO, the better.

[Anonymous]

Coming from a small, rural high school with presumably a much lower average SAT score, I would definitely submit. I would only question submitting if you were coming out of top private high school or top public with all 5s on your APs.