Breaking News: Brown Requires Standardized Test Scores

As of this morning, Brown is the third Ivy League school to reinstate standardized test scores, following Yale and Dartmouth’s lead and citing academic performance as the leading factor that influenced the decision. This announcement comes after an evaluation of the University’s undergraduate admissions policies was conducted by a committee appointed by President Christina H. Paxson and comprised of members of the Corporation of Brown University and Brown senior faculty “to ensure that the University is fully realizing its educational mission and upholding its commitments to academic excellence, equity, access and diversity.” This new policy will begin with the class of 2029.

The exception to this rule will be those who are “unable to take the test” when “the International Baccalaureate or a national exam may be substituted.”

Transfer applicants, however, can still take advantage of a test-optional policy.

According to The Brown Daily Herald, these scores will be considered in the context of an applicant’s background:

The committee acknowledged that those from well-resourced backgrounds tend to perform better on the exams, whether because of additional tutoring or other strategies. But Paxson accepted a committee suggestion to implement a “testing in context” campaign which aims to promote Brown’s policy of considering testing as one factor among many in a holistic review process. 

The Brown Daily Herald also reported that, during the 2020-21 applicant cycle, 40% of applicants to Brown chose not to submit test scores. However, in the 2022-2023 cycle, only 24% of students did not submit a score.

EARLY DECISION AND LEGACY PREFERENCES

For now, Brown is staying the course with its Early Decision admissions policy, stating that eliminating it may “place Brown at a slight disadvantage in enrolling very high qualified students who are subsequently admitted to other institutions through Regular Decision.”

Brown also deferred any decisions on legacy preferences until administrators can ask “members of the community—including faculty, staff, alumni and students—to provide input on Brown’s current practice of preferences for applicants with family connections.” Approximately 10% of Brown’s Class of 2027 was made up of students with “familial preferences,” including ~8 percent with legacy preference and 1-2% who are children of staff members.

Brown’s hesitation to change their binding ED policy and relationship to legacy preferences isn’t surprising given its potential impact on their yield rate (legacy students tend to enroll at higher rates once admitted). However, the committee’s executive summary also suggests that “admitting fewer legacy students could potentially increase the numbers of low-income and first-generation students, and students from underrepresented groups, by a modest amount.” 

BROWN REINSTATES STANDARDIZED TESTING: THE TOP TIER TEAM WEIGHS IN

As testing policies continue to shift at elite universities, we asked Senior Private counselors, Nellie Brennan Hall and Heidi Steinmetz Lovette, and Co-Founder Dr. Michele Hernandez to weigh in:

Nellie Brennan Hall, TTA Senior Private Counselor and former Associate Director of Admissions at Brown University

Interestingly, Brown’s Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions Policies does not contain a current student, academic dean, or anyone from the Admissions Office. It is filled with trustees and faculty members. While they came to the same conclusion about test requirements as many of their peers. I find it odd that there are no current deans, students, or admission officers on the committee to speak to their experiences of the day-to-day academic outcomes. Brown tries to bury the lead in discussions about Early Decision and Legacy/Staff Preference, but the story here is that they are requiring tests and not adopting a more test flexible policy, which would allow students to showcase their talents in other testing areas. There are other standardized tests (AP, IB, etc.) that also demonstrate academic strength and could be more telling of an applicant’s ability to succeed in college.

Dr. Michele Hernandez, TTA Co-Founder and CXO

Brown, like many other top colleges, acknowledges the reality that high test scores correlate with higher grades at college. Likewise, every study has shown that not requiring test scores can have the unintended consequence of suppressing applicants from lower income backgrounds, which is why it’s a wise decision to require scores in most cases as long as they are taken in context, as Brown explains.

Heidi Steinmetz Lovette, TTA Senior Private Counselor and former Assistant Director of Admissions at Cornell University

During the pandemic, Cornell was the first of the Ivies to go test-optional. As other Ivies like Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown now revert back to requiring standardized testing, Cornell has announced it will remain test-optional for the upcoming cycle. Further, four of its schools remain score-free/test-blind and will not consider test scores at all. This devaluing of testing is not surprising and is consistent with Cornell’s reputation as the most egalitarian of the Ivies. If there is a surprise, it is which Cornell schools fall into the test-optional vs test-blind categories. Test scores are generally considered important for STEM and business fields in particular, but Cornell’s undergraduate business school (SC Johnson College of Business – Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management) remains test blind.

WHICH SCHOOL IS NEXT?

Which college or university do you think is next to require standardized testing and why? Let us know in the comments.

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