Nearly five hundred prestigious colleges around America dropped their SAT and ACT test requirements for the 2021-2023 college admission cycles until further notice. Over the past two years more and more community/private institutes around America have also joined the trend of no SAT and ACT admission requirements for the next couple of years.
There are many factors that lead to this decision, with one of the biggest ones being COVID-19. There have been many health and safety concerns about taking the SATs and ACTs in 2020 as COVID-19 was at its worst causing most colleges not to require them because taking the SATs during this time would be such a huge risk since they are usually administered in a large room full of people.
This issue later spilled over into 2022 when covid isn’t as much of a burden as it once was but colleges are still not requiring it for the foreseeable future. Colleges have also recognized that not some applicants are not able to take any sort of standardized testing due to their financial struggles or availability.
Since it is not possible for some applicants to participate in low-income neighborhoods, they can no longer require applicants to take SATs or ACTs since it would not meet every applicant’s needs and be extremely unfair to those who are struggling financially.
Both the SAT and ACT cost approximately 60 dollars, and this is without further fees that are needed for late registration or score reports which allow you to see which questions you got wrong on the test. Not only that but many students hire tutors and go through many prep courses which usually tend to be very costly.
When asked about their thoughts about the SAT not being mandatory, Khondker Ayat who is a current 11th grader responded with, “I honestly think this is a pretty good idea because there are probably students out there who do not have the resources for the SAT so having students decide whether to take it or not sounds good.”
It seems that the SAT will not be mandatory for quite some time as more than 1700 colleges and universities will not be requiring students to submit scores when applying for admission for fall of 2023.
For instance, Harvard will be test optional until 2026 which proves that this will be a long-lasting situation for many years to come. This change can play a big role in the admissions process since the SAT was always a major part of it.
The SAT not being mandatory does not mean that students should not take it. This is very much so up to the students themselves and how they feel. If students believe that taking the test would benefit them and give them better chances in getting into the college they want, then they should definitely opt in to take the SAT.
Another student of the 11th grade, when also asked the same question from before, believed that “This could be helpful to some other students that maybe don’t have access to the SAT, but I myself will probably be taking the exam soon.”
Other juniors were asked about their thoughts regarding this situation since juniors are mostly the students that are taking the upcoming SATs. Jeremiah Farnum being a student, when asked about his thoughts on this situation regarding the SAT, said that “I really wasn’t too aware regarding this situation, but I think that personally, I will still be taking the test although I can see how this is a good idea in allowing students to decide. ”
Considering this interview, this develops on the idea that students have more flexibility regarding the SAT situation. Students can decide to take the SAT but they can also choose not to use it for their admissions process if they feel that it will hurt them. It is interesting to see if the SAT being mandatory will continue in the following years, but for now it was important in seeing how it had affected current students.