LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Spalding University applicants no longer have to provide ACT or SAT scores.
The institution said that its “test-optional” policy will make college an option for more people, reflects academic research and supports Spalding’s social justice mission.
“Spalding values students’ entire profile and recognizes future academic achievement is not solely predicated by a single test score,” the university said in a news release. “Scholarly research has shown that other factors, like a student’s motivation, high school GPA and having the appropriate support are also strong predictors of academic success in college,"
Beginning with applications for fall 2020, students can apply with a cumulative high school GPA of at least 3.0 without submitting an SAT or ACT score.
“As a diverse community of learners, Spalding is proud to be the first institution of its kind in Louisville to adopt a test-optional undergraduate admissions policy, and we are excited to provide students interested in attending Spalding with an additional means to show they have the qualifications to succeed in college,” the faculty members of the Undergraduate Admissions Committee said in a joint statement.
“A test-optional application … empowers many students with good grades to know that regardless of a standardized test score, they can still attend college and thrive when they get there."
Matthew Elder, the university’s director of undergraduate admissions, also said that the new policy provides a greater educational opportunities for students whose scores are lower because they lacked resources or support to prepare for the tests or could not afford to take them multiple times.
“Often we are putting the students who don’t have those resources at a concerted disadvantage,” Elder said.
Spalding, a private, nonprofit institution, was established in 1814 by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and has been in downtown Louisville since 1920. It had 1,799 students in the fall of 2018.
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