Universities across the state will soon be getting applications for the class of 2025, but this year’s process will be different. Most schools won’t require scores from standardized tests.
As universities considered thousands of applications, many found standardized testing helpful according to Greg Roberts, dean of undergraduate admissions at the University of Virginia.
“It can be a useful tool to help us distinguish between students who come from so many different high schools with so many different grading scales and grade inflation,” he explains.
But he knows those scores tend to be higher for students from wealthy families – especially those who can afford test preparation courses and the chance to take the SAT or ACT several times. And this year, some kids couldn’t take the tests at all because of the COVID pandemic.
“The SAT, for example, was canceled after the very first March administration," Roberts says. "The next test administration won’t be until August at the earliest, so there are approximately a million students who normally would have taken these standardized tests by now who have not.”
Roberts says spring grades may also reflect the disruption of classes for rising seniors, but admissions offices will still look at report cards, recommendations, school and community activities in deciding who to admit, and those who have scores and want to submit them for consideration may do so.
