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By Claudio Sanchez

Many high schoolers hoping to attend George Washington University in Washington, D.C., one of the top private universities in the country, breathed a sigh of relief this week.

GWU announced it will no longer require applicants to take the SAT or ACT.

The move comes after the school formed a task force to study the pros and cons of going “test-optional.” GWU attracts lots of high-achieving students who do well on both exams, but the task force concluded that the school’s reliance on these tests was excluding some high-achieving students who simply don’t test well.

Of particular concern were low-income, minority students who don’t even bother to apply because their scores are too low.

GWU will still require pre-med and home-schooled students, as well as athletes, to submit test scores, but, like many of the more than 800 other four-year colleges and universities that were already test-optional, it hopes its admissions criteria will now capture a more diverse pool of students.

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