3 More Colleges Go Test Optional; Doctoral Program Drops GRE

Last month, Inside Higher Ed reported on a surge in colleges going test optional in admissions. Winter is typically not a time for many colleges to change admissions policies. In the winter of 2017-18, only one college announced it was going test optional. But in the winter of 2018-19, eight colleges made such a shift. And the article noted that spring started with test-optional announcements from the University of San Francisco and Springfield College.

In the weeks since, three more colleges have said that they will stop requiring applicants to submit either SAT or ACT scores. In addition, the University of Michigan's history department announced that it would no longer require the Graduate Record Examination for admission to its doctoral program.

The colleges going test optional on admissions include Southwestern University, a prominent liberal arts college in Texas with competitive admissions.

Tom Delahunt, vice president for strategic recruitment and enrollment, said in a statement that "the test-optional opportunity ensures that applicants are able to showcase strengths and attributes that test scores cannot reflect."

The other two colleges to recently announce a shift to test optional are Alma College and Simpson College.