The summer before my senior year of high school, I took the SAT, which at the time felt like the most important exam of my life. As I lined up with dozens of high schoolers, I sensed our shared anxiety and nervousness, which undoubtedly built up from months of endless practice questions. A year and an application later, I was at Lehigh. For a long time, taking the SAT or ACT has been a rite of passage, as essential to the college application as the personal essay.
However, the pandemic has changed everything about the admissions process, and the SAT and ACT have been no exception. According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, around 1,800 four-year colleges and universities, including Lehigh, do not require U.S. high school students to submit SAT or ACT results. Lehigh became test-optional for the class of 2025 and will remain test-optional until applicants for the class of 2027 submit their applications. Continue reading for answers to some of the most common questions about what it means to apply test-optional.
What does test-optional mean?
Simply defined, test-optional means that an entrance exam, like the SAT or ACT, is not required for admission. Lehigh leaves the decision to submit the standardized test scores to the applicant. If you submit SAT or ACT scores, they’ll be reviewed as part of your application. If you don’t, you won’t be at any disadvantage compared to applicants who do submit test scores.
If I’ve taken the SAT or ACT, should I submit scores or apply test-optional?
Lehigh encourages prospective students to consider how to best demonstrate their college readiness. If you’ve taken the SAT or ACT and determined your score reflects an accurate picture of your ability to succeed in a rigorous academic environment, submit the score. If you believe your score does not represent your potential, consider choosing the test-optional path. Students may instead choose to provide evidence of their academic strengths through other particulars, including curriculum choices, school transcript and letters of recommendation.
How will my application be evaluated without a standardized test score?
With or without a test score, Lehigh will continue to review applications and offer decisions holistically based on the information received for each individual student. A diverse student body benefits everyone, so Lehigh values talents and interests of students from different academic backgrounds, life experiences, and perspectives. Therefore, Lehigh admissions considers the impact different learning environments and living circumstances can have on a student. Classroom performance, essays, extracurricular accomplishments, leadership experiences, and other factors which might be unique to the applicant are considered when determining whether a candidate is a right fit.