An Ultra-Selective University Just Dropped the ACT/SAT. So What?

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On Thursday, the University of Chicago announced that it would no longer require the ACT/SAT for admission, becoming the most-selective institution ever to adopt a test-optional policy. With that, the South Side campus caused an admissions-obsessed planet to wobble. Several deans and college counselors predict that the move will soon prompt other high-profile colleges to abandon their testing requirements. At the very least, the national conversation about testing has changed, probably for good.

As The Washington Post first reported, Chicago has unveiled a broad initiative to increase access for low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented students. Dropping its testing requirement for all domestic applicants is just one part of the plan (those who don’t submit scores will still be eligible for the university’s merit scholarships, officials say).

The university, which boasts an endowment of nearly $8-billion, will greatly expand its financial-aid program, offering full-tuition scholarships to students whose families earn less than $125,000 a year, as well as $20,000 in scholarships over four years and a guaranteed paid summer internship for all first-generation students. Chicago will expand funding for veterans and the children of veterans, firefighters, and police officers. It will also provide additional mentoring and support for underserved students who enroll.

Starting this fall, Chicago will invite applicants to send a two-minute video “introduction.” That idea echoes Goucher College’s recent embrace of video as a means of connecting with teenagers who grew up filming themselves with smartphones.

The test-optional piece of that puzzle, though, could shake up an entire profession. For years, critics of ACT/SAT requirements have said that a tipping point would come if and when one of the nation’s highest-ranked, super-selective colleges deemed the exams unnecessary. For those keeping score, Chicago is tied for No. 3 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 college rankings; the acceptance rate for this fall’s freshman class was 7 percent.

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Though Chicago is especially selective, the story of its test-optional conversion is by now familiar. In an interview with The Chronicle, James G. Nondorf, Chicago’s vice president for enrollment, said the new policy arose from continuing discussions of how the university could enhance recruitment and support of low-income and first-generation students.

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Ever since Chicago introduced a plan to increase college access and expand need-based aid a few years ago, Nondorf has heard positive feedback from around the country. Yet he also has heard lingering concerns about what some people described as enduring barriers to access: One of those was Chicago’s testing requirement.

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Many colleges have found that students’ transcripts — their high-school grades and rigor of courses — are the most-valuable predictors of future performance. “The transcript tells such a powerful story for us,” Nondorf said. “We went from department to department to see who the stars were. Does testing tell us who’s going to be the best art historian? The answer is No.”

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Most colleges lack Chicago’s immense resources. Going test-optional is one thing; throwing giant aid packages at students is another. Yet Richard A. Clark, director of undergraduate admission at Georgia Tech, said Chicago’s one-two punch is meaningful, even for institutions with tighter budgets: “It makes everybody stop and ask, ‘Can we do this? What are we doing for these underserved populations?’”

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As the ACT and College Board noted in written statements on Thursday, more students than ever before are taking the two exams. Also, the vast majority of all applications to four-year colleges go to campuses that require the ACT/SAT. And many colleges still require incoming students to submit test scores for various purposes besides admission.

In an email, a College Board spokesman noted widespread concerns about high-school grade inflation, including how the phenomenon might affect lower-income students, and also touted its free “personalized practice” program. And an ACT spokesman’s email included this reminder: “Moving to a test-optional policy may also lead to corollary benefits for a college — benefits that don’t necessarily extend to students.”

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As with any facet of the admissions process, a test-optional strategy is a basket of nuances. Sure, such a policy might help a college attract more low-income and underrepresented applicants, some of whom might, in fact, lack great ACT/SAT scores. Yet it will probably appeal to other kinds of students, too. DePaul officials have been surprised by how many applicants from affluent schools have applied under the university’s test-optional plan — even if they have solid scores.

Oh, and a 50-percent increase in first-generation applicants isn’t the same as as 50-percent increase in first-generation students admitted or enrolled. A college still has to give that test-optional applicant a precious acceptance.

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Though the university’s policy would surely put more weight on “school context,” transcripts, and the other application components, Urquidez said, it shows high-achieving, low-income students that test scores wouldn’t define them. On Thursday she discussed the news with a handful of college students who had been part of the Academic Success Program. The consensus? “It’s nice,” she said, “to see a highly selective institution recognize that those scores are heavily impacted by tutors and the ability to take the test as many times as one wishes to, which ultimately correlates to socioeconomic status.”

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Once, test-optional policies were more or less synonymous with small liberal-arts colleges. Now that a brand-name university has joined the mix, the question everyone’s asking is, Who’s next?