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| The Test-Optional Way | Every day appear more and more colleges. And all of them offer quite different terms and conditions of passing the tests. Not to get lost, consider the following information. The models for test-optional programs in the selective college world are Bowdoin and Bates Colleges in Maine, both of which have allowed students to apply without test scores for decades. They find that about a third of applicants take advantage of this in a given year, and that students who don't submit scores do just as well once they enter college.
Some colleges, such as Hamilton and Connecticut College, have created alternative test programs that allow students to submit scores from several tests, such as APs or SAT Subject Tests, or sections of the SAT or ACT. These programs are very suitable for many students. Muhlenberg College in PA allows students not to submit test scores as long as they interview on campus and provide a graded writing sample with their application.
Most selective institutions are small- to middle-sized liberal arts colleges. They may be more or less test optional. Some larger universities have also moved in this direction, but due to the nature and size of the applicant pools at different types of institutions, the smaller selective colleges are better suited to the test-optional admission process. Sometimes the original test-optional institution turns to be the local community college. A lot of them are open for school graduates and are ready to give admissions.
Here are some other colleges and universities with a variety of test-optional programs: Antioch College, College of the Atlantic, Bard College, Cazenovia College, Dickinson College, Franklin and Marshall College, Guilford College, Hampshire College, Hartwick College, Knox College, Lawrence University, Lewis & Clark College, Middlebury College, Mount Holyoke College, Pitzer College, St. Lawrence University, Sarah Lawrence College, Susquehanna University, Trinity College (CT), Union College, and Wheaton College (MA).
Another approach
If you apply for college but think that they won’t show all your knowledge, require an essay to be added to your application. Students with disabilities may find it very useful as ordinary testing format doest suite them. This is your chance to talk about strengths and weaknesses, and why you expect to be successful in college for other reasons.
Finally, creating a mixed application strategy — including some colleges that don't require standardized tests — will increase your chances to enter the college of your dream.
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