Test Optional?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your son/daughter has gone test optional, what was the outcome? Highly achieving public. 10/11APs, 3.94 unweighted, good EC, 4/5 on AP exams. White male. Thank you!

I can't really answer your question and TO outcomes. My DC is the opposite of yours.. mediocre grades (sub 3.4 unweighted) but with good rigor (will end with 9 APs) and above average SAT (1500). Applied T40 and below, pretty much into every school he applied to that too for CS, Engineering or Business. I've been reading a lot on College Confidential and some Facebook groups and often come across parents wondering why their high stats, but TO kid didn't get in. TO outcomes likely depend on the type of college (Private vs Public) and your high school profile.

If I were in your shoes, I'd make sure your son prepares well and takes the SAT and/or ACT. He seems like he can do well.

I hope you dc works a little harder in college. The world is filled with kids who slack and are smart.....sounds like OPs child is a really terrific student. Colleges want this.

Plenty of smart kids struggle in HS because of ADHD/being bored/etc. and most do exceedingly well at college when the courses interest them.

[Anonymous]

Look at the stats from the schools you are applying to. They'll tell you what percentage of admitted kids went TO vs submitting scores. At top schools, a good percentage of kids submit both SAT and ACT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some kids who are great students but have terrible test anxiety and TO is a good option. I still don't think it helps much for the top schools though, unless you are submitting APs. Best advice is to put the time into prepping for SATs and APs. Don't rely on TO.

How does the "test anxiety" brigade manage to do well on AP exams but not the SAT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO will not be a great look for a someone w your DCs stats. Not too hard to bump up sat. I would have him work on that. Superscoring to at least 1500 will be straightforward. Good luck.

+1 With his stats, TO will look like his test scores are not 1500+, especially with 4/5 on all his AP tests. So yes, it will look "fishy" to the AO. So unless you are form a Low income zip code, it will be assumed he didn't do well on the SAT/ACT.

That's the thing, TO is not really TO at most schools. If you are from a zipcode where everyone can easily take the tests, then you should take it and submit

What is your support for this? I would agree if school says "test recommended," but most who say TO are explicit that nothing will be assumed by not submitting, it's just 1 data point.

Some of the “tiger mom” posters here are wrong.
Listen to what college AO are saying… they don’t infer a low Test score. But it’s one less data point. So the rest of the data points must be extremely strong.

There is a ton of information out there on this topic. Educate yourself and don’t listen to these crazy parents pushing testing as the end, all be all.

Just because you get a 35 or 36 does not entitle you to admission to a top-tier college. It actually is irrelevant after the first 30 seconds of looking at the application.

Grades and test scores are not treated equally. One is definitely more important than the other.

I’m a big fan of getting data and information directly from college counselors and the admissions offices.
Listen to podcasts. There are some really good ones.

[Anonymous]

My DC has very similar stats OP. Only difference is private school (not public) in DMV. Went TO and accepted at a T25 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some kids who are great students but have terrible test anxiety and TO is a good option. I still don't think it helps much for the top schools though, unless you are submitting APs. Best advice is to put the time into prepping for SATs and APs. Don't rely on TO.

This isn’t true. Our school doesn’t have APs and kids got in TO to Northwestern, Yale and Vanderbilt this fall alone. Another got into Princeton submitting a 1420, which according to this board is a trade school level score. Don’t get DCUM brainwashed, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm OP--maybe I should have my child try the ACT. Has been studying for SAT. Thoughts?

Absolutely. Definitely give the ACT a shot. See which is better and prep accordingly. If he wants T25, chances will obv be higher with a score in 1500s or equivalent. But if that doesn’t happen, the strong grades coupled with the AP Scores will still make him a very strong candidate, especially at SLACs.

[Anonymous]

I am very skeptical about this whole optional thing. What happens if two similar kids apply one with TO and the other with good/decent test score. Which one of them are the schools going to pick?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very skeptical about this whole optional thing. What happens if two similar kids apply one with TO and the other with good/decent test score. Which one of them are the schools going to pick?

But the rest of the application is not the same.
If one kid is at public and the other kid, is it a private it will make a difference.
If one kid is pointy, and the other kid is not, it will make a difference.
If one kid is stem, and the other is humanities, it will make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some kids who are great students but have terrible test anxiety and TO is a good option. I still don't think it helps much for the top schools though, unless you are submitting APs. Best advice is to put the time into prepping for SATs and APs. Don't rely on TO.

This isn’t true. Our school doesn’t have APs and kids got in TO to Northwestern, Yale and Vanderbilt this fall alone. Another got into Princeton submitting a 1420, which according to this board is a trade school level score. Don’t get DCUM brainwashed, OP.

💯
Schools with a high number of TO admitted students below.

UChicago
WashU
Vanderbilt
USC
Cornell
Claremont McKenna
NYU
BU
UMiami
Northeastern
Villanova
Middlebury
BC
Lehigh
Pomona
Wake
Tufts
Tulane

[Anonymous]

Try Vanderbilt. They love TO.
Also WashU and Cornell.

[Anonymous]

How do you define high number? 50%, 40%? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some kids who are great students but have terrible test anxiety and TO is a good option. I still don't think it helps much for the top schools though, unless you are submitting APs. Best advice is to put the time into prepping for SATs and APs. Don't rely on TO.

How does the "test anxiety" brigade manage to do well on AP exams but not the SAT?

Because AP exams are held in your school, during the regular school day, possibly in your actual class you've been in the whole year, with your friends all around you and possibly your teacher as the proctor. Calms you down if you have anxiety. SAT is on a Saturday, sometimes at your school but in the cafeteria or other lecture hall, sometimes at a different school or testing center, with strangers sitting around you, a proctor you just met, room could be too cold, too hot, sun in your eyes, proctor refuses to draw down shades, etc... etc.... amps up the anxiety and hence the propensity to make silly mistakes, run out of time etc... My DS who notices every small thing around them came out of a sitting talking about how frustrating and distracting it was for testers in the room to be audibly cursing regularly during the sitting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your son/daughter has gone test optional, what was the outcome? Highly achieving public. 10/11APs, 3.94 unweighted, good EC, 4/5 on AP exams. White male. Thank you!

I can't really answer your question and TO outcomes. My DC is the opposite of yours.. mediocre grades (sub 3.4 unweighted) but with good rigor (will end with 9 APs) and above average SAT (1500). Applied T40 and below, pretty much into every school he applied to that too for CS, Engineering or Business. I've been reading a lot on College Confidential and some Facebook groups and often come across parents wondering why their high stats, but TO kid didn't get in. TO outcomes likely depend on the type of college (Private vs Public) and your high school profile.

If I were in your shoes, I'd make sure your son prepares well and takes the SAT and/or ACT. He seems like he can do well.

I hope you dc works a little harder in college. The world is filled with kids who slack and are smart.....sounds like OPs child is a really terrific student. Colleges want this.

I hope so too.. Colleges seem to want someone like my kid too, based on our results. No earth-shaking ECs either, just one (non-academic) since middle school. No national awards, etc. Not URM.

[Anonymous]

Pitzer loves TO also. In fact, based on the UC's going test blind, probably most schools in California love TO since so many Californians won't bother to take the SAT.