Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Penn, Brown, CalTech, JHU, and UT-Austin to Require Standardized Testing for Admissions

[jules6521]

Add the University of California to this list soon?

Even before the recent scrutiny on higher ed institutions by the Trump administration, the UC Board of Admissions (a part of the Academic Senate) had been discussing reinstating the SAT/ACT requirement because of concerns about grade inflation at the high school level and readiness of high school students for college.

UC looking at bringing back the SAT/ACT

As most people here are aware, the University of California (UC) has a test-free admissions policy, meaning SAT/ACT scores are not considered at all. The UC dropped standardized tests in 2020 following concerns about bias, inequity, and their limited value in predicting college success. Subsequently, a lawsuit settlement in 2021 cemented this policy, where the UC agreed to not consider SAT or ACT scores in the admission process through Spring 2025. With the term of the settlement expiring, UC’s Board of Admissions (BOARS) began reevaluating the test-free policy in late 2024 (see UC BOARS meeting notes in December 2024 and January 2025) due to concerns over grade inflation and academic preparedness, especially in math. (BOARS is a part of the UC Academic Senate that “oversees all matters relating to the admissions of undergraduate students.”) Notably, UC Berkeley and UCLA seemed interested in looking at bringing back the SAT/ACT, with UC Berkeley forming a committee to study the issue. …