In a Boomerang Effect, College Applicants Face Greater Competition at Schools Without Standardized Testing Requirements

Test-optional admission policies are inflaming selectivity rather than leveling the playing field of applicants as had been intended.

AP/Elise Amendola
The campus of Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachusetts. AP/Elise Amendola

Is the best answer choice A, B, C, D, or none of the above? High school students across America are furrowing their brows at that conundrum as they seek top scores on the SAT and ACT, even as more than two-thirds of American colleges and universities no longer require applicants to submit results.

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