If a college or university is “test optional,” that simply means that they do not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores as part of their application. Students may submit scores, and many do submit scores, but they are not required to submit scores. There are three good reasons for a student to apply to a test-optional school and decide not to submit test scores:

1. The student didn’t take the SAT or ACT, so they don’t have any scores to submit.

2. The student took the SAT and/or ACT, but they don’t think the scores are a good refection of them as a student.

3. The student wants to take a stand against standardized testing by supporting test-optional programs and increasing the number of applications submitted without test scores.

There are, of course, other reasons not to submit scores, but these are the three main good ones.

Test optional is getting more popular and normal. In fact, there are now over 1,000 test-optional colleges and universities in the U.S. You can see a list of them here.

Why are colleges going test optional? The primary reason they’re doing it is to increase diversity. Almost all schools the adopt a test-optional policy increase the number of underserved students at their schools. As a bonus to schools, students who apply without submitting scores who are accepted enroll at a higher rate than accepted students who did submit scores—non-submitters are more likely to show up if you accept them. What’s more, non-score-submitting students have graduation rates similar to score-submitting students. (These conclusions, plus tons of great data and charts, can be found in “Defining Access: How Test Optional Works.”)

But while I’m quoting facts from the “Defining Access” study, I should also include that non-submitters are accepted to colleges at a slightly lower rate than submitters.

So what do we make of all this?

Advice to students.

First, understand that you’re probably going to do plenty of testing anyway. Although a lot of schools have gone test optional over the past few years, there’s still a really high chance that at least one college on your list is going to require SAT or ACT scores. You should think very carefully about dropping a good-fit school from your list just because they require a test you don’t want to take.

What’s more, some specific programs within a university may require test scores, even if the general admissions department doesn’t. For example, you may be able to get admitted to a college without submitting SAT or ACT scores, but the Honors College within the university still requires test scores. Or the Engineering department. Or the pre-med program. So before deciding to skip reporting your scores, do your homework to make sure you don’t actually need them after all.

Plus, there are lots of scholarships—even scholarships from test-optional schools—that require you to pass a certain SAT or ACT threshold to qualify. If that’s the case, you may need to take the test and report the scores anyway.

So you’re probably going to take the SAT, ACT, or both. But remember that there are options if you don’t. Over 1,000 of them. Making a college list that only includes truly test-optional schools, including special programs or scholarship opportunities, is completely doable. And it gets a little easier with each school that drops the test requirement.

Advice to parents.

There are two things I’d like parents to hear about test-optional admissions. First, understand that it’s real. When schools say they don’t require test scores, they mean it. Your child doesn’t have to submit test scores to that school. When I hear “if you don’t submit scores, the school will assume you got really bad scores and reject you,” it’s always from parents. Please understand that schools have little reason or incentive to do that. If you’re really cynical, you can say that test-optional allows schools to get more applications—and therefore more rejections—to make themselves look more selective and boost their prestige. Please believe me that there are easier ways for schools to fudge their numbers and boost prestige than making such a drastic change to their admissions process. Yes, score non-submitters have a slightly lower acceptance rate than submitters, but that isn’t because schools are assuming the worst about the test scores. It’s because non-submitters also tend to have lower high school GPAs and fewer AP or IB scores to report.

The second thing for parents to consider—and this is technically advice to students as well, but it’s always parents I end up having this conversation with—is why schools are test optional in the first place. They’re trying to help under-represented and undermatched students (first-generation students, low-income students, minority students) get into college and succeed. They’re also trying to take away a barrier to students for whom their test scores are much lower than their overall transcript and record would indicate. At most, less than a third of students have test scores that are significantly lower than their overall profile. If your student has a really high GPA and has taken upper-level courses, but still “tests poorly” and has lower test scores, then test optional is a big deal for your student. If your student has pretty good grades in upper-level classes and pretty good test scores, then test optional really doesn’t matter to you.

If you’re a parent keeping yourself up at night thinking things like “my daughter got a 1310 on her SAT, but her dream school has an SAT mid-range of 1320-1410. Should we submit scores or not?” then you’re wasting your time and sanity.

Advice to university admissions departments and other admissions professionals.

When I hear that test-optional admissions helps more underrepresented students get into—and graduate from—college, I get really happy. Good for you!

But when I hear anyone say that test-optional admissions helps reduce student stress and burden, I get frustrated. See above. Even if you’re test optional, most students are still testing anyway. Helping a first-gen and Pell-eligible student get to college is great, but that student’s life is pretty stressful, with or without SAT scores. Some students tell themselves “I took the SAT test, was unhappy with my score, studies hard, re-took the test…and still felt like my scores were going to be used against me and decided not to submit them.” That’s not low-stress. Parents are worried—wrongly or not—that the only reason you’re going test-optional is to boost the number of kids you reject. They wonder if it’s a mean trick. That’s not low-stress. By all means brag about the good parts, but please don’t pretend that your test optional policy made anyone’s senior year significantly easier. We’re still a long way from that.

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