Early Decision applicants this fall can opt to exclude their standardized test scores from their AU applications, according to Greg Grauman, acting director of Undergraduate Admissions.
The decision to make reporting ACT or SAT scores optional follows a national trend emphasizing academic performance rather than standardized tests, according to the Undergraduate Admissions Web site.
The department launched the pilot program to determine if the university can eventually apply the policy to all undergraduate applicants, Grauman said in an e-mail.
For now, the university is focusing only on Early Decision applicants. They represent a smaller pool of the 15,000 students who apply to AU each year, Grauman said.
However, the policy may not be legal. According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling's "Mandatory Good Practices," members cannot provide exclusive incentives to Early Decision applicants that are not available to other applicants.
"AU's announcement appears to some critics, including me, to violate ED guidelines laid down by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling," wrote Jay Matthews, education columnists for The Washington Post. "That's bad."
The pilot program does not offer exclusive incentives to early applicants since students who do not submit a test score do not have higher chances of admission than regular applicants, Grauman said. Early Decision is also a binding commitment for students whose first choice school is AU, so the program will not be an incentive to apply early, he said.
"The review of an application without a standardized test score is no less rigorous than a review of an application with a standardized test score," Grauman said.
While standardized test scores are a part of AU's admissions process, they are not the core, he said.
Molly Miranker, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said making the test score requirement optional or non-existent would be nice.
The pilot program is a good way to "test the waters," she said, but everyone will want to apply early to omit their test scores.
"Early Decision people is a good place to start," Miranker said, "but for fairness they should go all or nothing" and offer the program to every applicant.
Russell Krantz, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, said he thinks the focus on Early Decision students was not the best choice and that policies should be the same for all students.
Standardized test scores can also help level the college application playing field, according to Krantz.
"I think the only problem is standardized testing as an equalizer," Krantz said, "The same factors affect everybody."
However, some education experts believe students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to perform better on standardized tests, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
"I think that's just a bad argument," Krantz said. The tests look at the same language and critical thinking skills every student learns, he said.
Universities and colleges that have decided to make test scores optional have seen a more diverse student body, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, which seeks to promote fair, valid and open evaluations of schools, students and teachers. Test score requirements can deter minorities, low-income, first-generation and female students from applying to schools, according to the organization's Web site.
If AU decides to join the list of test-optional schools, it will be the second Patriot League school to do so, following College of the Holy Cross.
You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.
