FairTest Press Release on Many Test-Optional Schools Earning High U.S. News Rankings

for immediate release, Tuesday, September 13, 2011

MANY TEST-OPTIONAL SCHOOLS EARN HIGH U.S. NEWS RANKINGS;
35 OF TOP 100 LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES DO NOT REQUIRE ACT/SAT SCORES FROM ALL OR MANY APPLICANTS

The U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges 2012” guide released today ranks more than eight dozen undergraduate schools with test-optional admissions policies as among the best in the nation. The list includes 53 of the magazine’s first-tier national liberal arts colleges and 35 of its top 100.

Wake Forest University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and American University are among the highly ranked national universities, which do not require all or many applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores before admissions decisions are made. At the top of the liberal arts college category are such test-optional schools as Bowdoin, Smith, Bates, Holy Cross, Mount Holyoke, Sewanee, Union, Furman and Pitzer. Among regional universities which do not require standardized exam scores, Fairfield, Loyola, Providence, Rollins, and Whitworth are all ranked in the top ten from their sections of the country.

“The test-optional movement now includes many of the most selective schools in the nation,” explained Bob Schaeffer, FairTest’s Public Education Director. “Students who do not want to be judged on the basis of their ACT or SAT scores are welcome at a growing number of top-notch colleges and universities of every type in every region.”

Since 2005, nearly 80 colleges and universities have adopted “test-optional” policies, according to FairTest. A list of 860 accredited, bachelor-degree granting institutions that do not require all or many applicants to submit test scores is available for free at http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional. Later this month, Teachers College Press will publish SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions, to which FairTest’s Schaeffer contributed a chapter.

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– a list of colleges and universities with test optional admissions policies ranked in U.S. News’ top tiers is available on request.

– look for an analysis of 2011 College Bound Seniors SAT results at http://www.fairtest.org once score averages are made public on Wednesday, September 14, 2011

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