I went through all 38 colleges in Virginia to find out how many of them were test optional. 23 are test optional, 17 are not covid dependent test optional

1/

The myth that if a school goes test optional the other factors become more important doesn’t seem to play out with the common data

What I mean is this myth that if we get rid of GPA then other factors will rise to replace them doesn’t seem to be supported by the common data 2/

For example James Madison has been test optional since 2017/2018. But the only factors they consider “very important” for relative importance is rigor of school record and gpa

It hasn’t put additional weight on other factors 3/

One of the arguments those make against test optional seems to always be, if they get rid of the test then recommendations/interview/extracurriculars will be weighed more and that creates inequity as well 4/

And yet I have never seen this play out in the common data set... When test scores go from very important or important to considered or not considered, there doesn’t appear to be any data to show another factor takes its place or is weighed more 5/

Test optional appears to just deprioritize the test moving it from very important/important to considered or not considered. The only impact test optional seems to have is it just makes the test become... optional. No other factors are then prioritized more as a result 6/

I’m tired of seeing these fluff opinion pieces promote these unsupported claims about test optional- time to hold them accountable