Yale's "Test-Flexible" Policy and Rationale

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Like other schools after the pandemic-era hiatus, Yale is again requiring a test in the admissions process. But the school will accept AP or IB scores instead of the SAT or ACT. Yale’s rationale is worth analyzing.

Yale’s explanation is carefully considered in a message posted on the website. Because tests, particularly the SAT, have been so controversial, school officials explain the evidence they gathered about the effect of not requiring scores during the past four years. They write that the elimination of scores placed emphasis on other parts of an application, which we might expect to favor students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, but the opposite happened. They theorize that these students tend to be from lower-resourced schools, with fewer advanced courses and extracurricular options and more taxed teachers who write generic recommendation letters (my paraphrase, particularly noted here). The message includes goals of increasing diversity, without mentioning specific demographics, for obvious reasons.

Officials acknowledge: “Students’ out-of-school commitments may include activities that demonstrate extraordinary leadership and contributions to family and community but reveal nothing about their academic preparedness.” They seem to admit that, for example, working or taking care of younger siblings, doesn’t count for much—or at least not enough. They conclude:

[T]est scores are the single greatest predictor of a student’s future Yale grades. This is true even after controlling for family income and other demographic variables, and it is true for subject-based exams such as AP and IB, in addition to the ACT and SAT.

Students might be interested in evaluating Yale’s recommendations to applications, including the following:

Advice on Selecting Scores to Include

When considering which scores to include with your application, consider the following questions:

  • Do the scores indicate my preparation for college-level coursework?

  • Do the scores reflect areas of academic strength?

  • Do the scores help showcase my academic range?

  • Do the scores supplement the courses and grades on my high school transcript?

  • Do the scores stand out as especially notable in my secondary school?

  • Am I proud of the scores as a reflection of the effort I put into preparing for the test(s)?

The admissions team does offer quite a bit of guidance, including these podcasts.