Starting in the fall of 2020, undergraduate students applying to the Colorado College will no longer be required to submit SAT and ACT test scores.
The standardized test-optional policy is an effort to attract a diverse student body and increase access to education.
The college announced the decision last week following a yearlong assessment by Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid. From the assessment, they found that the standardized test scores tend to be higher for wealthier students and for white students in comparison to the students from racial and ethnic minorities.
High school performance will now be given more weight for student admission decisions.
“Standardized test scores do not always reflect the academic potential of students from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said College Assistant Professor of Psychology Kevin Holmes.
“The new test-optional policy removes a barrier to admission for these students.”
A recent report by Georgetown University researchers found that most selective colleges in the U.S. would have significantly less diverse student bodies if they adopted a standardized test only admission policy.
The report also found that test-only admissions would set 1250 as the minimum SAT score for admission at the country’s top 200 colleges, and would raise the median SAT score from 1250 to 1320, resulting in a decrease in the enrollment of black and Latino students.
According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, in recent years, more than 1,000 four-year colleges and universities have made the submission of SAT or ACT scores optional, including the University of New Hampshire, University of San Francisco, University of Chicago, American University, Ball State University, and Wake Forest University.
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