SAT/ACT requirement out at University of Chicago
The University of Chicago will no longer require ACT or SAT scores from U.S. students, sending a jolt through elite institutions of higher education as it becomes the first top-10 research university to join the test-optional movement.
Numerous schools, including well-known liberal arts colleges, have dropped or pared back testing mandates in recent years to bolster recruiting in a crowded market. But the announcement Thursday by the university was a watershed, cracking what had been a solid and enduring wall of support for the primary admission tests among the two dozen most prestigious research universities.
The private university in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood admits fewer than 10 percent of applicants and ranks third on the U.S. News & World Report list of top national universities, after Princeton and Harvard and tied with Yale. It has required prospective freshmen to take a national admission test since 1957. Before that, it screened applicants with its tests.
U-Chicago is also expanding financial aid and scrapping in-person admission interviews, which had been optional. Instead, it will allow applicants to send in two-minute video pitches, in an effort to connect with a generation skilled at communicating via cellphone clips.
“Testing is not the be-all and the end-all,” said James G. Nondorf, U-Chicago’s dean of admissions and financial aid. He said he didn’t want “one little test score” to end up “scaring students off” who are otherwise qualified.
The SAT, overseen by the College Board, and the ACT are fixtures in college admissions. Most highly selective colleges and universities require students to take one of them. With some exceptions, the tests remain essential for the vast majority of students who want to attend major public universities. Even schools that go test-optional often find a majority of applicants submit scores.
Students eager to maximize their college chances often take both exams. But a growing number say having a choice — to submit or not is empowering.
Yasameen Etami, 18, of Edmond, Oklahoma, is heading to George Washington in the fall to study public health. Valedictorian of her high school class and daughter of Iranian immigrants, Etami took several Advanced Placement classes and compiled a sterling grade-point average. But she chose not to send GWU her ACT scores — an option for her after the university dropped its testing requirement in 2015.
“They are displaying that students are so much more than just numbers, or simply a three-hour exam that was taken on a Saturday morning,” Etami said. She said she took the ACT three times — common these days among college-bound students — and ended up with a satisfactory score. Along the way, she grew skeptical of the entire exercise.
“I often even asked myself who I was doing it for: the universities or to prove to myself that I am capable of succeeding on the exam?” Etami said. “That feeling is one that these test-optional institutions are wiping away.”