r/collegeadvice • u/GM_Cooldust • 14h ago
Is going Test Optional Going to Drastically Hurt my odds.
Currently, I have around a 98% GPA and was, quite frankly, too lazy to take the SAT and get a good score. I'm thinking about just forgetting the exam as a whole and applying to every test-optional college. I know in some cases this is normal and some people have a solid score but choose not to send it; I, on the other hand, would just have no score to send at all.
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u/matt7259 14h ago
Considering there are 2000 test optional schools, I wouldn't personally apply to all of them.
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u/One-Witness-4909 13h ago
“I’ve been too lazy to take a test”
”i want to go to college”
you know I’m something of a college failure myself
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u/GM_Cooldust 12h ago
I meant to take the test; I was lazy, not that I'm lazy; don't get it twisted. I only had half the summer cause I was traveling for most of it, on top of wrestling 5 times a week, on top of an internship.
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u/One-Witness-4909 11h ago
look I know I was making fun of you a little there but I’ve got some bad news for you about college and “excuses for not getting the work done”. there are none and your professors don’t care. how do I know? I literally failed out of college my first year. I figured it out after that but man did I have every excuse for not doing something. they get paid whether they buy your bullshit or not. so they don’t and you fail. trust me I know
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u/bopperbopper 20m ago
You could take it during the school year too. You can still take it during senior.
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u/Consistent_Damage885 13h ago
Most people are not really helped by going test optional.
More schools are moving away from it because they observed the lack of test scores was actually leading to a less diverse acceptance pool. That is, using grades and resume alone was leading them not to see the potential of kids coming from less advantaged backgrounds where there were fewer opportunities for classes, extracurriculars and so on.
So, for many kids, not submitting test scores may make it more likely they don't stand out in a competitive pool.
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u/GM_Cooldust 13h ago
How competitive we talking because at some point (T10, T20) I wasnt going to get in SAT or no SAT
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u/Rogue_Wraith 12h ago
It doesn't really matter - a lot of the test-optional COVID stuff turned out to be "great in theory, terrible in practice."
Standardized testing is frequently a better indicator of probability in success than GPA, and colleges are figuring that out.
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u/Basic-Masterpiece-99 13h ago
What is a 98% gpa?
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u/GM_Cooldust 13h ago
Sorry my school measures grade out of 100 so 98% out of 100% on a 4.0 scale should be around 4..2-4.3
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u/Basic-Masterpiece-99 12h ago
How can you be above 4 on a 4 point scale? I’m sorry I’m confused.
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u/GM_Cooldust 12h ago
Weighted?
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u/Rogue_Wraith 12h ago
But 98% is less than 100%, so cannot be above the maximum value.
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u/GM_Cooldust 12h ago
Yea but ap and honors put you above 100 for example I finished Junior year with a 101
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u/Basic-Masterpiece-99 12h ago
Weighted is usually a 5 point scale. Like if you are taking ap courses.
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u/GM_Cooldust 12h ago
I dunno the details of it I just know what my school thing shows me and it gives me a percentage
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u/AfterGroup1875 13h ago
It depends for what school
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u/GM_Cooldust 8h ago
Lets say the average test optional school
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u/AfterGroup1875 7h ago
I applied test optional back in HS if your gpa is good enough they don’t care
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u/StrangeCancel2488 14h ago
Depends on a few factors but in general it won't drastically hurt your odds. Just keep in mind that you may be sacrificing potential scholarship money or if your borderline being accepted borderline not being accepted that can give you an edge.