Nick's position
Should my child send an SAT or ACT score to a test-optional college?
“At a selective test-optional college, a score is nearly always good to have: it helps your odds and your merit scholarship chances.”
Nick Standlea
Test-optional sounds like scores do not matter. They do. Optional means the college will not make you send one. It does not mean the college will ignore a strong one.
At the selective colleges, the students who send a score tend to be admitted at higher rates than the ones who do not. And merit scholarship grids are keyed to scores, so a family with no score often leaves that money on the table.
So when we sit down with a family, we say the same thing: get a score, then decide college by college whether to send it. Having the score is the part that gives you the choice.
The facts behind it
- At the selective test-optional colleges that publish both shares, score submitters were admitted at 1.2 to 3.2 times the rate of non-submitters, by the colleges' own numbers.
- Of 226 public universities checked, 31 require an SAT or ACT score, 180 are test-optional and 15 do not consider a score at all.
- Our merit scholarship tool surfaces automatic merit awards across 63 colleges based on your SAT or ACT, GPA and home state.
If my child's score is low for a college, should we still send it?
Decide college by college: if the score sits below the college's range, grades and course rigor carry the application and the score can stay home.