"Old Dominion University is boasting a record number of “high ability” students in this year’s freshman class, a sign that tweaks in how it evaluates prospective students are working.

Christopher Fleming, ODU’s assistant vice president for enrollment and executive director of admissions, said the university has become more strategic and its acceptance rate dropped from 95% to 90.9%.

ODU took the COVID-19 pandemic and used it as a way to adjust its thinking when it comes to defining student success, Fleming said. Test optional has been in place for several years, but there are newer ways to “contextualize student success” and determine if the university is the best place to support them. It is about seeing what the students are “bringing to the table” but also figuring out what the university community can do for them.

Fleming said the test-optional program allows students who otherwise might not have those standardized test scores, such as lower-income students or students of color, an opportunity to apply," reports The Virginian-Pilot.

Photo: Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS. The distinctive Education Building on the Old Dominion University campus in Norfolk on March 12, 2020.