RECIPES / TEST-OPTIONAL TRACKER

SAT submission as effective policy.

C9 SAT submission rate, year by year, for seven well-documented schools. ≥85% behaves like test-required; 10–85% is genuinely optional; <10% behaves like test-blind. Written policy is C8; this chart is what enrolled first-years actually did. Bands score combined SAT + ACT submission, capped at 100%; the lines plot SAT only.

CDS C8C9
Fig. 1 · % submitting SAT, by year
CDS C.901 · 2002-2024 · 7 SCHOOLS
0%20%40%60%80%100%2005201020152020202485% · TEST-REQUIRED10% · TEST-BLINDCDS year →% submitting SAT →
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§ How to read
“Written policy
underdetermines practice.”

The y-axis is the percentage of enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores. Higher = more students submitted = closer to a de-facto test-required school. The dashed lines mark 85% (above = effectively test-required) and 10% (below = effectively test-blind); anything between is genuinely test-optional. Written policy underdetermines practice; the submission rate is the outcome measure.

≥ 85% submission
Effectively test-required
Almost every admit submits scores; not submitting is a meaningful disadvantage.
10–85% submission
Genuinely test-optional
A real fraction of admits get in without scores. The middle band is where written and effective policy actually agree.
< 10% submission
Effectively test-blind
Written policy is binding regardless of whether a student submits. Score data has no place in the decision.
§ Pull this for any school
curl https://collegedata.fyi/api/facts \
  ?fields=C.901,C.902              # % submitting SAT · ACT
  &school=yale-university           # any slug from /schools
  &year=2009-2024                  # every archived year
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