How Harvard's Latest Test-Optional Justifications Give Up the Game
It comes as no surprise to anyone that Harvard has announced a four year extension of its test optional policy for admissions. Harvard has ascribed its initial and extended policy to the pandemic and the difficulty in which students have had in gaining access to testing sites. The same reason many schools have installed temporary (and some permanent) policy changes for admissions.
Note: We’ve recently discussed how ACT® and SAT® testing is making a stellar comeback with improved pandemic conditions.
While many prospective students are shouting from the rooftops over Harvard’s extension, we advise them to pump the breaks. Yes, Harvard has just been added to every other college-bound student’s reach list, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Harvard has become more reachable.
Harvard's decision to continue its foray into test-optional admissions is as much about helping out the institution as it is about helping prospective students.
Harvard is Limiting Objective Measures for Admissions Decisions
Test scores offer an objective yardstick for admissions to use in measuring a student’s academic fit. They are considered alongside school-based metrics like class rank and high school GPA that are far less standardized. By comparison test scores are much stronger comparative evidence that admissions counselors can use to prove that an applicant has what it takes to succeed at their school. However, considering students both with and without test scores adds a layer of subjectivity that can (and likely will be) abused to favor certain applicants over others.
With fewer objective measures for admissions to rely on, admissions decisions become a bit more ambiguous and open to interpretation. And while admissions should always consider each applicant in a holistic manner, the less demonstrable evidence submitted, the greater the chance of a partial and biased admission choices.
Harvard is Raising the Average Test Scores for Incoming Classes
When test scores are optional, students with lower scores are less likely to submit them. That said, students with top-tier testing performances are certainly going to include them in their applications.
As a result, elite schools like Harvard will be able to leverage their acclaimed test-optional policy to raise the average test score bar for every incoming freshman class, artificially inflating their score averages.
In the long run, this will likely have a compounding effect. Students with lower than average scores will continue to be less likely to submit their scores, and the averages will continue to press upward. Eventually we may see that these higher test score averages may, in fact, even discourage lower-scoring applicants from even attempting to apply - the exact opposite of the stated aim of test-optional policies.
Harvard’s Decision Incentivizes Grade Inflation
Grade inflation is unfortunately not going anywhere. What started as a means of providing grace and flexibility for high school students struggling through the onset of a world-wide pandemic quickly became a way in which elite high schools could fluff up their Ivy League acceptance rates.
In a previous post (written after the first graduation class of pandemic 2020), we discussed the then current landscape and how test scores were able to help admissions better appraise a student’s academic performance since grade inflation essentially devalued GPAs. Fast forward to now, with some schools still inflating grades as a means of rigging the system for their pupils, test scores remain a significantly more objective and reliable source for leveling the playing field of college admissions than high school transcripts alone.
Harvard has Created a Liability Shield for Admissions Decisions
Let’s call Harvard’s extension of its test optional policy what it is: a liability shield. It is much easier for Harvard to make partial, biased admittance decisions when they can hide behind a test-optional policy. It’s much harder for outside critics and skeptics to prove inferior candidates getting admitted over other objectively more qualified ones (legacy admissions, anyone?).
Policy changes and extensions like Harvard’s only prove that students who submit high test scores are able to stand up to the increasing competition of college admissions and stand apart from the rest of the applicant pools.
In an ever-evolving landscape, students with strong test scores still provide admissions with unwavering objective, veritable evidence to demonstrate their academic fit. Even as test-optional policies and similar policy changes start to look like more permanent fixtures of the college admissions process, your test prep can be the difference maker for giving students the best chances at acceptance letters.
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