Daniela Berson
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Since George Washington University declared itself a “test optional” school, the number of applications by prospective students has risen by 28%.
More than 25,000 people have applied to GW since the school decided to do away with ACT and SAT tests.
“We did see a really historical number of applications this year,” Said Laurie Kohler, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Retention. “And our goal with test optional wasn’t really ot increase the number of applications. We didn’t anticipate this kind of a gain.”
Most of the increase in applications came from frist generation students and underrepresented minorities.
“We looked at national studies and looked at our own data. It was very clear that the most significant predictor of academic success at GW was actually students’ high school performance, their GPA, and their rigorus high school curriculum,” she explained.
The fall 2016 semester is the first time that GW is using the test optional applications.
Other schools like Wake Forest and American University have been test optional for years, and Kohler told WMAL that these schools were consulted as GW considered removing the testing requirement.
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