Following years when it did not require students to take standardized tests, Yale University is once again making the SAT and ACT mandatory for undergraduate admission.
According to a statement released by Yale on Thursday, the school will start the move in the autumn and will also accept results from Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examinations in lieu of the SAT or ACT.
According to Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of admissions and financial aid at Yale, "standardized tests are imperfect and incomplete alone, but I also believe scores can help establish a student’s academic preparedness for college-level work." She stated that the test results are important for laying the academic groundwork for any case they review, particularly when combined with other components in an application, such as a high school transcript.
Tests are essential to ensure balanced admission
When test sites shuttered during the epidemic, the majority of institutions stopped demanding the exams. However, following years of criticism that testing favored rich applicants who could afford additional coaching, it also represented an ideological experiment for certain schools.
The first prestigious university to change its mind was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dartmouth just made its announcement this month.
Test results are the single best indicator of a student's success in Yale courses in every model we have created, Quinlan said. Put simply, students with better scores have been more likely to earn higher Yale GPAs.
According to the school's data, applicants without test results had a lower chance of being accepted. This was particularly the case for applicants who were attending high schools with fewer college-prep courses and those from lower-income families.
More students applied when schools stopped using assessments. Over 57,000 students attended Yale this year, a 66% rise in four years.
Quinlan stated, "The pool has become larger, but we have not seen that it grew to include many more applicants with strong academic preparation."
Test results were found to be a statistically significant predictor of academic success at Yale's undergraduate college, and there was a statistically significant difference in the average grade point average between applicants who submitted test results and those who did not.
