Reply to is test optional really only for low income or diversity applicants?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Test blind is so much better than test optional. It's fair to everyone.[/quote]

Except the kids with high gpas and test scores.  The fewer data points, the more arbitrary the decision making, especially in the age of Covid inflated grades.[/quote]

It’s not arbitrary. People can claim grades are inflated but high schools can send a lot of information about their student population that provide additional context to GPAs. Schools can’t get that with test scores, and they know that. They don’t know if the high score is a result of a one time test or hours of practice with a private tutor and multiple rounds of testing. [/quote]

I think you’re wrong.  Colleges assume that applicants from private and affluent public schools are actively prepping for the SAT, and they take that into account in evaluating applicants.  They also know that test scores correlate with household income and take that into account as well. And they know the average SAT score of every high school that their applicants come from because it’s all spelled out in the school profile that the high school sends along with the transcript.

For all of the reasons, top colleges expect to see great test scores from non-URMs attending private or affluent public high schools and will assume if you don’t send them that it’s because yours don’t measure up.  They don’t expect it from URMs or lower performing high schools, so when scores aren’t submitted there it doesn’t hurt you.

I know rich white advantaged folks hate to hear that.  But going test optional wasn’t designed to cut rich folks a break.  It started because so many kids couldn’t even find a place to take the test, and it’s being continued because the result was a lot more applications from kids from diverse backgrounds who always assumed wrongly that their scores shut them out.

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But not every URM attending private schools has the disposable income for test prep like their classmates. I spend all of my money on tuition for my URM to go to private school. [/quote]

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