Last week, Tulane University announced that they were dropping their supplemental essay. But we’ll get to this later….
About four years ago, many in the education arena were placing bets that standardized testing for college admissions – the SATs and ACTs – were a thing of the past. Long gone were the SAT single subject tests. As the pandemic was winding down, schools were still maintaining their test optional status, claiming that it made higher education opportunities more accessible and equitable.
While public universities in Florida were never test optional, schools in the Ivy League started requiring standardized test scores in 2024, claiming that standardized test scores are the most reliable measure of a student’s ability to succeed in college. Harvard’s Opportunity Insights claims that standardized test scores were a good indicator of a student’s college GPA. And, many college decisionmakers claim that high-achieving students from low-income families withhold solid scores that could benefit their applications when tests are optional.
Most significantly, the SATs and ACTs are the great equalizers. Since grading in high school varies significantly across the country, standardized tests offer a uniform benchmark for evaluating students academically. Additionally, standardized testing removes opinions, which are often vulnerable to socioeconomic bias.
So, if colleges are, once again, relying heavily on standardized standardized testing as an equalizer, supplemental essays provide opportunities for a more holistic review of students. These essays provide a way to get to know them beyond their scores.
While the personal statement/common application essay tells a student’s story, supplemental essays provide colleges with a better understanding regarding why a student wants a spot at a school and what a student has to offer the campus community. They provide a chance to expand on specific interests and passions.
Supplemental essays empower students to demonstrate the ways in which they will contribute to and maximize a college’s specific resources. Writing a highly personalized essay demonstrates that students invested time in researching the school and outlines the ways in which students will make the most of academic and extracurricular resources at a school.
Finally, when schools are evaluating highly similar candidates – candidates with the same grades and scores, supplemental essays provide admissions committees with a unique perspective on a student’s personality. A strong, well-researched, revealing essay can often be the deciding factor that helps a student into the “admitted” pile.
Now, back to Tulane’s decision to drop their supplemental essays.
For their freshman class in 2025, Tulane received over 32,000 applications for approximately 5,000 spots. This is about a 14 percent acceptance rate. The average SAT score and ACT score of a student admitted to Tulane was 1486 and 33, respectively. More than half of admitted students didn’t submit test scores to Tulane for consideration.
Every single student applying to Tulane for a spot in their Class of 2029 wrote supplemental essays. That means that while they didn’t all provide scores, they were required to provide more “soft” information, to tell the admissions committee why they want to be at Tulane and how they will contribute to Tulane’s community. They had opportunities to distinguish themselves in other ways – rather than simply hoping that a number would push them over the top.
Without the opportunity to make their case to admissions committees, scores will become significantly more important, as they will indicate college readiness without the “why” attached.
Tulane is not the first school to get rid of supplemental essays. Many schools, from state schools like the SUNYs to Penn State, Ohio State, and – for the past two years, University of Virginia, to Northeastern and an array of small liberal arts colleges, do not require supplemental essays. But, as a result, these schools rely more heavily on test scores.
This does not diminish the importance of ensuring that a student has a well-thought out and well-rounded resume and personal statement. Students need to continue to tell their holistic stories, However, it does highlight that the SAT and ACT are, once again, a vital piece of that admissions decision process. Which means that students who invest their time in studying for standardized tests give themselves a wider range of options when it comes to choosing a college.
Standardized tests are not for everyone – many students study endlessly and continue to struggle. These students should apply to test-optional or test-free colleges whenever possible. But if a student has solid test taking skills, taking the SAT or ACT can make a notable difference in their admissions process.
If you have any questions about how to conquer the SAT and ACT or the college admissions process, contact GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection. GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection is always here to help.
