University of California scraps SAT and ACT Scores from admissions

The University of California reached a settlement with students to eliminate SAT and ACT scores from admissions decisions. This settlement decision officially closes the door on any hopes for the SAT or ACT to be used for admissions, as the UC system will not revert even to the brief test-optional period after testing dates were cancelled and delayed due to the pandemic. 

Now, SAT and ACT scores will only be used to fulfill the English subject-matter requirement, course placement or advising for admitted students.

In a larger perspective, the UCs are only 9 of the top 50 undergraduate institutions. The vast majority of elite universities remain test-optional and some test-blind. Students looking to remain a competitive applicant for the Ivy Leagues should still take the SAT or ACT and submit a good score for consideration.

Although the test-optional movement predates the pandemic, it has continued to stay strong nationwide. Applications are booming. Columbia’s applications increased by 51% this year, and Harvard’s were up 42%, followed by double-digit increases throughout the Ivy League such as Brown (27%), Dartmouth (33%), Princeton (15%), the University of Pennsylvania (33%) and Yale (33%).

No longer burdened by a test score requirement, applicants have surged and likely will maintain its increase. Students who send good SAT or ACT scores to temporarily test-optional schools will be at an advantage. Top schools like Cornell and Dartmouth announced that standardized test scores remain a useful metric to gauge a student’s academic readiness for the first year of college.

College admissions officers still want to see students prepared for college-level work. So how will future classes of students demonstrate college readiness? 

College admissions is permanently changing to experience-based acceptance criteria: grades, courses, transcripts, and extracurricular activities yielding real world experiences with adult professionals. These are what will reign supreme with the de-prioritization of once mandatory standardized testing.