It is definitely increasing the number of international students. They have obvious trouble with tests in English, and that keeps them out of a lot of schools. Some of them have quite a bit of money, though, and can easily afford the tuition. Many more are applying there now than used to.

It also remains to be seen whether dropping the testing requirements will result in a larger pool of qualified applicants for admission or change the diversity composition of the freshman class. Even without dropping the testing requirements, this same question is playing out at ivy league schools that have made huge outreach programs to minority communities in the past year. The question is whether dropping the test requirement results in additional applicants from mostly qualified or unqualified students. In truth, without standardized testing how will they know if a straight A kid from a weak high school really knows his/her stuff or is a mediocre student shining above the others.

Anonymous wrote:

It's all a game, and GWU has been playing it for years.

They haven't been playing it very well.

They have never been in the "top 50" since the rankings began decades ago, despite all their desperate flailing.

Anonymous wrote:Now their average SAT will go up because on the kids who are really proud of their scores will send them. That will make their rankings go up.

+1

Anonymous wrote:Now their average SAT will go up because on the kids who are really proud of their scores will send them. That will make their rankings go up.

This. This is not about lowering standards. It's about (1) increasing the number of applications received, so as to decrease the acceptance rate and make the school look more selective, and (2) increasing the average test scores of admitted students. Admitted students with great scores will be reflected in the average, while admitted students with less than great scores might not have sent them in the first place, so they aren't pulling the average down.

It's all a game, and GWU has been playing it for years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife/how-to-raise-a-universitys-profile-pricing-and-packaging.html?_r=0

Anonymous wrote:It's insulting for GW to say it will have more diversity now that it dropped its test requirements. The real reason is money. It costs too much to attend!

Don't be mad. It's just a reality that different races score differently on standardized tests. That doesn't necessarily mean that the tests are a 100 percent accurate view of your capabilities -- which is why some schools are dropping test scores.

Do they still give the Presidential Academic Merit Scholarship? It's the only reason I could afford to attend 1996-2000. They gave me 75% of tuition for 4 years.

Anonymous wrote:This is great: Under its test-optional policy, the private university in Washington said it has drawn more African-American and Latino applicants and more applicants whose parents did not go to college. Applications from these “first-generation” students grew from more than 3,000 in the previous cycle to more than 4,000 in this one, officials said.

And the 25K number includes all grad and professional students; undergrad is less than half of that.

The applications have gone up but are these students qualified enough to be admitted? Or does the school just like it that it seems like their school is now even more selective?

Now their average SAT will go up because on the kids who are really proud of their scores will send them. That will make their rankings go up.

Anonymous wrote:This is great: Under its test-optional policy, the private university in Washington said it has drawn more African-American and Latino applicants and more applicants whose parents did not go to college. Applications from these “first-generation” students grew from more than 3,000 in the previous cycle to more than 4,000 in this one, officials said.

And the 25K number includes all grad and professional students; undergrad is less than half of that.

And guess who is paying for these kids?

As an alum, I'm not giving them a damn thing. And that was a firm policy even before this announcement.

I'm certainly not going to donate now that they intend to admit unqualified people and thus diminish the school's reputation.

Show me the money! And no, as an alum, I do not plan on giving more so that they can help these poor suckers out with grants, because the tuition is still too high.

It's insulting for GW to say it will have more diversity now that it dropped its test requirements. The real reason is money. It costs too much to attend!

This is great: Under its test-optional policy, the private university in Washington said it has drawn more African-American and Latino applicants and more applicants whose parents did not go to college. Applications from these “first-generation” students grew from more than 3,000 in the previous cycle to more than 4,000 in this one, officials said.

And the 25K number includes all grad and professional students; undergrad is less than half of that.

Article from WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/02/04/no-test-scores-no-problem-applications-surge-after-gw-goes-test-optional/?tid=a_inl

Did not realize GW has 25K students!