A Crack in the Ivy
Yesterday, barely five weeks after Case Western threw down a gauntlet by announcing that they would be test-optional for Fall 2021, the first Ivy dipped a cautious toe in the pool with the email subject: “Cornell University suspends ACT/SAT testing requirement for applicants next year.”
They note quickly: “Cornell overall is not adopting a “test-optional admission” policy, but rather providing a relief for applicants who will not have had enough opportunities during 2020 to prepare for and to take either exam because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Clearly, Cornell will still expect candidates with the means and the opportunities to test to submit scores, which is likely to include most applicants from New York City independent schools. However, if test centers remain closed in the fall, students would still be able to apply to Cornell without scores.
Browning students visit Cornell University during the annual college trip.
This is a stunning, though not particularly surprising, turn of events in the COVID-19 vs. SAT/ACT conflict. Shortly after Case Western’s announcement on March 18, MIT, one of the last holdouts requiring Subject Tests, announced that they were not just dropping that requirement, they would no longer even consider those scores in the evaluation of applications.
On Tuesday, March 24, Tufts upped the ante by announcing that they were beginning a three-year experiment with test-optional admissions. Boston University jumped on the Case bandwagon the following Monday. Davidson followed the Tufts lead Wednesday morning. The number of schools dropping testing requirements for at least the next admissions cycle is growing daily. While Cornell’s decision was certainly influenced by College Board canceling their June administrations, the number of schools following suit will skyrocket if testing opportunities remain severely limited through the summer and into the fall.
To date, colleges that have announced testing updates for the Class of 2021 fall into roughly three categories:
• Schools that are waiving testing requirements for the 2020-2021 admission cycle only.
• Schools that were already considering a move to “Test Optional” and are instituting a 1-3 year “experiment,” after which they will reassess the policy.
• Schools that were already considering a move to “Test Optional” and have simply enacted the policy now.
Cornell has added a fourth: Schools that still officially require the testing but will evaluate an application, without prejudice, if the testing is absent. This is the model I would expect other schools at the very top of the food chain to adopt.
The rationale provided by College Board in their announcement last week was: “We're committed to giving students as many chances as we can to show their strengths to admissions officers.” The following day, “In response to uncertainty and school cancellations due to COVID-19, ACT will offer a flexible schedule for summer 2020 test dates and test-at-home options for fall/winter 2020.” In an ironically brilliant marketing twist, ACT’s CEO added: “Our mission compels us to provide as many opportunities as possible for students to take the ACT test, particularly now as other admission information, such as grades, courses, and GPAs, may be missing or partial.”
The College Board and the ACT seem to me to be in full panic mode as they scramble to justify their existence with alternate testing opportunities, including in-home options. All of a sudden, these paranoid bastions of security, who will not even allow a smartphone or smartwatch in the testing room, are going to administer the exams to students in their homes. Cornell is more diplomatic than I:
“Cornell is unable to analyze at this time proposals from ACT and the College Board for offering expanded at-home and other online testing during 2020. While we affirm each of the test-makers’ qualifications, research, and intentions, this method of testing can’t yet be validated as an indicator of college success during the upcoming cycle.”
Personally, I would translate this as: “Don’t expect us to give the same credence to an in-home version.”
If you have not read Malcolm Gladwell’s signature volume, The Tipping Point, now might be an opportune time, as the phrase is flowing freely in the lexicon of late. Specific to my argument here, the entire college admission community, counselors, colleges, and the testing agencies, is wondering: “Might the process still work without the test scores?”