Test-Optional Admissions Select Talent
False Assumption: Eliminating standardized test requirements allows colleges to better identify academically superior applicants through holistic review.
Written by FARAgent on February 11, 2026
Ninety years ago, Harvard president James Conant pushed for SAT mandates to spot merit in applicants from varied backgrounds. He saw standardized tests as a tool to level the field and identify academic talent beyond elite prep schools. This approach held for decades, with colleges relying on scores alongside grades and essays. By the 2010s, however, a new idea gained traction: dropping test requirements would enable holistic reviews to better uncover superior applicants, especially from under-resourced schools. Proponents argued that inflated high school grades and rising AP enrollments made tests redundant, and that test-optional policies would aid lower-income students by reducing barriers.
Colleges adopted these policies widely after 2020, amid pandemic disruptions and equity concerns. Graduation rates climbed from 80 percent to 87 percent, while A's became commonplace and perfect SAT scores surged from nine in 1991 to over 500 annually, fueled by retakes and intensive prep. Yet rejections mounted for students with near-perfect records, like those scoring 1590 on the SAT with 4.37 GPAs who applied to 27 schools without success. At Harvard, freshmen increasingly needed year-long remedial courses in algebra and geometry, leading to uneven academic paths compared to earlier eras.
Growing evidence now suggests these assumptions about test-optional admissions are flawed. Critics point to persistent mismatches between admitted students and college rigor, challenging the idea that holistic reviews alone spot top talent. The debate intensifies, with some schools reinstating tests, though official enthusiasm for test-optional persists in many quarters.
People Involved
- Ninety years ago, James Conant served as Harvard's president and pushed for mandatory SATs to uncover true merit. He acted in good faith then. Growing evidence suggests he foresaw the risks of going test-optional, like a prophet ignored in his time. [2]
▶ Supporting Quotes (1)
“Who coulda guessed? I mean, besides James Conant 90 years ago. (Conant was considered a formidable figure in his day: he was, for instance, more or less the guy who picked Hiroshima to drop the Bomb on.)”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
Organizations Involved
Elite colleges rolled out test-optional policies amid COVID and the George Floyd unrest, which hampered their hunt for top applicants. Harvard tweaked its methods after a Supreme Court ruling to keep black enrollment high, hinting at sidestepping the ban on racial preferences. MIT, by contrast, dialed back black freshmen from 15 percent to 5 percent post-ruling, shifting toward merit. Harvard enforced test-optional admissions from the pandemic through 2026, admitting students who struggled. Its math department started a remedial course, Math MA5, for freshmen weak in algebra. MIT spearheaded the reversal by requiring tests again, slashing black admissions and dropping DEI pledges, leaving Harvard behind. [1][2]
▶ Supporting Quotes (6)
“The most self-destructive step taken by colleges was of course going to test-optional (or, in the case of the University of California, test-forbidden) during covid/George Floyd.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“Harvard’s black share in 2023 was 14%. Then, after the Supreme Court decision, Harvard announced that they had chanced their methodology so they instead let in 18% blacks in 2023 but only 14% in 2024.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“MIT’s 2023 freshman class, for instance, was 15% black, which is obviously ridiculous, when if MIT wasn’t using affirmative action, its freshman class would likely be around 1% black. But then after the Supreme Court’s abolition of racial preferences in the summer of 2023, MIT reduced its black share to a more reasonable compromise of 5% in 2024.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“Harvard, which had sponsored the rise of the SAT from the 1930s onward under president James Conant in order to find smart students from outside of its usual Saint Grottlesex feeder boarding schools, switched to test-optional admissions during covid. And then, Harvard insisted on keeping test scores optional due to the Racial Reckoning through at least 2026.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
“The Harvard Math Department will pilot a new introductory course aimed at rectifying a lack of foundational algebra skills among students, according to Harvard’s Director of Introductory Math Brendan A. Kelly. The course, titled Math MA5, will run alongside two established math courses — Math MA and MB — with an expanded five-day schedule.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
“MIT has taken the lead from Harvard by usually being first to roll back the worst craziness of the last decade, such as by dumping DEI Loyalty Oaths, cutting black admissions from a nutty 15% to 5% in an attempt to show it at least respects the Supreme Court (while still practicing some affirmative action), and being first to make admissions tests mandatory again.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
The Foundation
High school metrics grew unreliable over time. Graduation rates climbed from 80 percent to 87 percent, grades tilted toward more A's, and AP classes added a full GPA point despite weak links to college success. SAT and ACT scores ballooned too, with perfect marks jumping from nine in 1991 to over 500, fueled by retakes and prep courses that undercut standardization. The idea took root that test-optional rules helped low-income students from weak schools, justified by pandemic disruptions and puffed-up GPAs. Yet growing evidence, including a paper by Raj Chetty, suggests tests spot talent better. Some blamed COVID for skill gaps needing fixes, but top students weathered remote learning with less damage, per NAEP data. Increasingly, this foundation looks flawed. [1][2]
▶ Supporting Quotes (4)
“Giving fewer F’s at the bottom means giving fewer B’s and more A’s near the top. Also, many high schools have informally switched from an A/B/C/D/F grading scale to an A/A-/B+/B/C grading scale. At the top, there has been a big expansion in taking Advanced Placement courses in high school, which award an extra GPA point (e.g., a B in the course counts as a 4 rather than a 3 for GPA, and an A counts as 5 rather than a 4), although a University of California study found that only awarding a half of GPA point would better predict college performance.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“SAT and ACT tests have considerably inflated their scores as well. Back in 1991, only nine students in the country got a perfect 1600 on the SAT. Current estimates are in the 500+ range for perfect scores on the SAT and several thousand annually for a perfect 36 on the ACt. Also, more students take the tests multiple times and/or take both the SAT and ACT. (Only the highest score counts.) And test prep has gotten much more intensive as Tiger Mothers flock in from parts of the world that have been engaging in intensive test prep for millennia.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“The tests were thought to disadvantage lower-income students and those from under-resourced high schools. But a working paper coauthored in 2023 by Ackman professor of public economics Raj Chetty, Black professor of political economy and professor of education and economics David Deming, and John Friedman, a professor of economics at Brown, found standardized tests are a useful means of identifying promising students at less well-resourced high schools.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
“He said the Covid-19 pandemic led to gaps in students’ math skills and learning abilities, prompting the need for a new introductory course. I’m sure Zoom classes during covid played a role, but according to NAEP scores, those hit the bottom half of American students — who greatly benefit from having an organized place to go to everyday and be talked at by middle-class grown-ups — much harder than the best students.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
How It Spread
The Common App let students apply to 12 or even 24 colleges easily, ramping up competition and burying standout talent. The Great Awokening boosted affirmative action, lifting black shares at top schools from 8 percent to 14 percent. Test-optional policies caught on through COVID logistics and Racial Reckoning demands, echoed in media like the New York Times that shifted blame. The Awokening and Reckoning kept the policy alive with diversity claims, even as GPAs inflated. Growing evidence suggests this spread masked deeper issues in spotting academic strength. [1][2]
▶ Supporting Quotes (4)
“Nominal: The introduction of the online Common App made it much easier to apply to numerous colleges, so it’s not uncommon to see students apply to a dozen or two dozen colleges now.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“Also, affirmative action got inflated during the Great Awokening, with ultra schools going from about 8% black to 14% black.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“Test-optional policies were widely adopted during the pandemic, when it was difficult to sit for standardized tests, and many remained in place even as the threat of illness faded.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
“And then, Harvard insisted on keeping test scores optional due to the Racial Reckoning through at least 2026. High school GPAs are pretty worthless lately because grading became much easier in recent years.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
Resulting Policies
Colleges like the University of California adopted test-optional or test-forbidden rules, masking applicants' real abilities. In 2023, the Supreme Court banned racial preferences, but most schools ignored it except MIT. Harvard extended its test-optional stance through the class of 2030, starting post-COVID for equity reasons, only to admit students needing basic remediation. Increasingly recognized as flawed, these policies leaned on holistic reviews that fell short. [1][2]
▶ Supporting Quotes (3)
“The U. of California still forbids students from sending in test scores.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“And there wasn’t much evidence as of 2024 that colleges other than MIT were taking the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision seriously.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“Until today’s decision, the College had a test-optional policy in place for applicants through the class of 2030.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
Harm Caused
Admissions now overlook stars, like students with 1590 SATs and 4.37 GPAs rejected after applying to 27 schools. The setup fails to pinpoint top potential compared to decades ago. At Harvard, freshmen landed in a year-long remedial algebra and geometry class, setting uneven paths and irking professors over logic shortfalls. The school slipped as a leader, trailing MIT, Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth in bringing back tests amid setbacks. Growing evidence points to these harms from ditching tests. [1][2]
▶ Supporting Quotes (4)
“Besides being April Fools’ Day, April 1st is the the day when we hear from all the high school seniors with 1590 SAT scores and 4.37 GPAs who got rejected by all 27 colleges they applied to, from MIT to Wayne State.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“Colleges have gotten worse at identifying the best applicants since 1995.”— What should be done about college admissions?
““The last two years, we saw students who were in Math MA and faced a challenge that was unreasonable given the supports we had in the course.” “Students don’t have the skills that we had intended downstream in the curriculum, and so it creates different trajectories in students’ math abilities,” Kelly added. Harvard professors hate it when students can’t follow any simple algebra they might introduce.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
“It’s almost as if Harvard isn’t the pacesetter college anymore. The announcement follows similar decisions by Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown to require standardized testing beginning with the class of 2029.”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
Downfall
MIT brought back required tests and led the charge against test-optional, while the Supreme Court spotlighted racial preferences clashing with demographics. AP tests got overlooked due to late timing and low ceilings; ideas for December sittings and tougher scales highlighted holistic weaknesses. Harvard mandated tests again for the 2029 class after its remedial course revealed gaps, backed by Raj Chetty's paper affirming tests' worth. Increasingly seen as flawed, the assumption unraveled through these shifts, though debate lingers. [1][2]
▶ Supporting Quotes (3)
“That’s going away, with MIT in the lead, but not fully yet.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“A big problem with using AP test scores for elite college admissions is that they aren’t designed for that, so the maximum score, 5 on a 1 to 5 scale, doesn’t go very high up: Almost one-sixth of AP test-takes achieve the maximum score.”— What should be done about college admissions?
“Harvard announced today that the College will reinstitute mandatory submission of standardized test scores for applicants, beginning with students applying for fall 2025 admission (the class of 2029).”— Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions flopped
Sources
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[2]
Who could have guessed? Harvard's test-optional admissions floppedreputable_journalism