Fortune recently addressed the myriad ways that the COVID-19 pandemic altered so many facets of education — including the college admissions process — and posed the question, “Will COVID wipe out standardized college testing?”
Heath Einstein, dean of admission, weighed in.
“The pandemic caused tectonic shifts in the college admission process,” he said. “In a flash, students were homebound, unable to engage with their college search in traditional ways.”
TCU is one of the universities to go “test optional” during the height of the pandemic and has extended the policy through 2023. This is creating a unique road for both universities and applicants. Some families are even hard to convince that optional means optional.
“Demonstrating through data that students who opt not to submit test scores aren’t penalized in the admission process will be one of the challenges admission offices face in the coming years,” Einstein said.