Three-Fifths of Four-Year Colleges and Universities Are Test-Optional for Fall 2021 Admission; Total of Schools Not Requiring ACT/SAT Exceeds 1,450

for further information, contact:                      

Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773                                         

            mobile  (239) 699-0468

for immediate release Thursday, August 13, 2020

THREE-FIFTHS OF ALL U.S. FOUR-YEAR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

DO NOT REQUIRE ACT/SAT SCORES FROM FALL 2021 APPLICANTS;

TOTAL OF “TEST-OPTIONAL” SCHOOLS NOW EXCEEDS 1,460

More than 60% of 4-year colleges and universities in the U.S. will not require applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores for fall 2021 admission. The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), which maintains a free, online master list, reports that 1,460 schools are now test-optional. The federal government recognizes 2,330 bachelor-degree institutions.

Bob Schaeffer, FairTest’s interim Executive Director, explained, “Schools eliminating ACT and SAT mandates recognize that multiple test dates have been cancelled this spring and summer. Many sites, where exams were scheduled for this fall, will not open. That makes it impossible for many applicants to submit scores. Admissions officers also know that test-optional policies worked well at the one thousand schools, which implemented them before the pandemic.”

“It is attractive for many applicants to know that they will be evaluated as ‘more than a score’,”  Schaeffer added. “FairTest also encourages schools to eliminate ACT/SAT requirements for so-called ‘merit’ scholarships and admission to special programs, such as honors colleges. That’s the only way to assure students that they will be treated even-handedly.”

A FairTest chronology shows that nearly 400 additional colleges and universities have gone test-optional so far this year. U.S. News now classifies more than 740 test-optional schools in the first tier of their respective categories. That figure includes more than 90% of the country’s most selective liberal arts colleges and national universities. FairTest has led the test-optional movement since the late 1980s when all but a handful of schools required the ACT or SAT.

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- FairTest’s frequently updated directory of test-optional, 4-year schools is available online at https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional -- sort geographically by clicking on “State”

-  A chronology of schools dropping ACT/SAT requirements over the past 15 years is at http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Optional-Growth-Chronology.pdf

-  The list of test-optional schools ranked in the top tiers by U.S. News & World Report is posted at http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Optional-Schools-in-U.S.News-Top-Tiers.pdf

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