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Ask the expert: What's the real deal when colleges say they're 'test-optional'? Do they want a student to submit scores or not?

University of Rochester's Robert Alexander says academic performance over four years will always outweigh a score on a four-hour test.

Apr 15, 2025

2 min

Robert Alexander

Are test-optional colleges being straight with students when they say the absence of SAT and ACT scores on an application won’t affect a student’s chances of being admitted?


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“Colleges are not trying to trick or trap applicants,” says Robert Alexander, who oversees the admissions process at the University of Rochester, where he is a vice provost and the dean of enrollment management. “No one is trying to fool anyone into thinking, ‘I don’t have to submit a test score,’ when that test score is secretly make-or-break.”


Much more important in any academic assessment, Alexander says, is and always has been the four years of academic performance detailed in an applicant’s high school transcript.


He says most colleges, including Rochester, take a deep dive into the transcript to not only consider the student’s grade point average, but also the rigor of the high school and its curriculum and why the student selected certain courses.


“Some students are limited by the opportunities offered at their schools,” Alexander says. “In that case, colleges look for what they have done to utilize their resources and push beyond those limitations.”


The University of Rochester has a test-optional policy.


The average standardized test score of incoming students has been trending upward, in part because the students who are most likely to submit their scores on their applications are those with strong scores.


Alexander says prospective students and their families can use the average test scores at the college or university they’re considering as a barometer, but not the arbiter of whether a student will gain acceptance.


“I think admissions officers are being as transparent as possible in telling students what they require,” Alexander says.


Alexander is an expert in undergraduate admissions and enrollment management who speaks on the subjects to national audiences and whose work has been published in national publications. Click his profile to reach him.


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Robert Alexander

Robert Alexander

Vice Provost & University Dean for Enrollment Management

Alexander is an expert in undergraduate admissions, enrollment management, and curricular design.

Undergraduate AdmissionsTest optional admissionsCollege AdmissionsAdmissionsHigher Education Affordability

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