Another interesting article, Bostonian. The removal of standardized tests as admissions criteria, has resulted in a 33%-42% increase in applications... evidently approximating the number of students who may now have hope of receiving an offer, but had no hope of receiving an offer if they had to provide a standardized test score with their application.

As with most things in life, there is a mix of PROs and CONs, good and bad. In this circumstance, I believe the desired benefit should be: extending need-blind offers to students prepared for a rigorous curriculum, and who can recognize opportunities others may overlook (aka leadership - for example, forging their own path both on-campus and post-graduation) while screening out students gaming the system, and/or presenting falsified credentials, and/or lacking internal locus of control and sense of personal responsibility (who may not rise to the occasion, but rather expect courses to be made easier).

A few POSITIVES of eliminating standardized test scores from admissions:
- standardized tests can be gamed (as seen in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal of 2019),
- standardized tests can be re-taken by those who can afford the approximately $70 fee each time they sit for the exam,
- admissions criteria are said to have a new emphasis on "intellectual curiosity" (although this may be difficult to define).

Some NEGATIVES of eliminating standardized test scores from admissions:
- standardized test scores are thought to be OBJECTIVE, and can be used to corroborate assigned grades. This can be especially helpful with teachers being evaluated and schools being rated/ranked based on assigning grades which show "equal outcomes" and no achievement gaps, performance gaps, or excellence gaps,
- admissions criteria may now have an over-reliance on grades (which may not reflect actual learning, timeliness in completing & turning in assignments, or student productivity, due to grading practices designed to achieve "equal outcomes"),
- admissions criteria are said to now give greater weight to teacher recommendations (which may be SUBJECTIVE, and open to influence),
- admissions criteria are said to now judge candidates in the context of their environments (which MAY result in admitting students unprepared for coursework, for example if they had "...straight As in a middling high school...").

Weighing the POSITIVES and NEGATIVES:
Evaluating the benefits and downsides of the new policy of college admissions sans standardized test scores may be a case of wait-and-see, and time-will-tell...? It will be interesting to see whether the feeder schools to top colleges change a bit over the next few years.