If you’ve been treating “test-optional” as a settled, permanent thing, I want to gently wave a flag. Two changes are happening at the same time this admissions cycle, and together they shift the math on test scores. No panic, I promise. Just a clear-eyed look at what’s actually going on, and what it means for your kid.
Change one: schools are dropping supplemental essays
Over the last couple of cycles, a growing list of selective schools has quietly cut their supplemental essays. Tulane, UGA, UVA, and the University of Washington all dropped them for this cycle, and roughly twenty selective colleges have made similar moves. The official reason is reducing student stress. The quieter reason, the one most people in admissions will tell you off the record, is AI, because those short supplemental prompts are nearly impossible to screen.
Change two: testing is creeping back
At the same time, the test-optional era is softening. For the first time since 2020, more applicants submitted scores than didn’t this past cycle, and a number of selective schools have moved from “optional” back to “recommended” or even “required.” Test-optional is not dead, but it is not the safe, universal default it felt like a couple of years ago.
Here's why those two things matter together
Think about what a college actually has to read when it evaluates your kid. The transcript. The activities. The recommendations. The personal statement. The supplements. The test score, if they send one.
Now take the supplements off that table. That’s a whole category of information, gone. Which means everything that’s left has to carry a little more weight. Fewer pieces of the puzzle does not make the picture easier. It makes each remaining piece louder. And one of those remaining pieces is the test score.
So when a school strips its supplements and leans back toward testing in the same season, it’s not a coincidence. They’re rebuilding the picture with the pieces they trust, and a score is one of them.
(Side note: this is exactly the kind of shift I’m putting together a free workshop around for parents this summer. More on that very soon, so keep an eye out.)
What this actually means for your kid (calmly)
Do not read this as “your kid must have a perfect score or they’re sunk.” That has never been true and still isn’t. Here is the calm, practical version.
If your kid tests well, a score can help more than it did two years ago. It’s worth taking seriously and submitting where it’s a strength.
If testing is not your kid’s thing, breathe. The transcript is still the single most important piece, and the personal statement now matters more too, since it’s often the main place their voice shows up once supplements are gone. Lean into those.
And check each school’s current policy, not last year’s. These rules are genuinely changing year to year, and the school your older kid applied to test-optional may not be test-optional now.
What not to do
Don’t assume test-optional is permanent everywhere. Don’t skip a strong score that could actually help. And please don’t spiral. This is a strategy conversation, not an emergency.
The bottom line
The pieces colleges use to understand your kid are shifting, and right now scores are getting a slightly closer look because there’s less else to look at. That’s worth knowing, not worth losing sleep over. Make a calm plan for testing that fits your actual kid, focus on the transcript and the essay, and you’re in good shape.
You’re not behind. You’re exactly where you need to be.
