Universities Admissions
Harvard and CalTech Will Require Test Scores for Admission
The universities are the latest highly selective schools to end their policies that made submitting SAT or ACT scores.
Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) have announced that they will reinstate the requirement for prospective students to submit standardized test scores as part of their application process. This move marks a departure from the test-optional policies that many institutions adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing debate over the role of standardized tests in higher education.
Harvard and CalTech, two of the most prestigious institutions in the United States, had previously allowed applicants to forgo submitting SAT or ACT scores due to the pandemic's impact on students' ability to safely access testing sites. However, with the recent announcements, both institutions are signaling a return to pre-pandemic admissions criteria, citing the value of standardized tests in evaluating applicants' readiness for college-level work.
The decision by Harvard and CalTech to require test scores again is part of a broader conversation about the role of standardized testing in college admissions. Proponents of standardized tests argue that they provide a uniform metric to assess the academic abilities of students from diverse educational backgrounds. According to recent research published by Harvard-based Opportunity Insights, standardized test scores are linked to academic success at selective institutions, suggesting that they can be a reliable indicator of a student's potential for success in college.
On the other hand, critics of standardized testing have long argued that these exams favor wealthier students who can afford extensive test preparation, thereby exacerbating inequalities in the admissions process. The test-optional movement, which gained momentum during the pandemic, was seen by many as a step toward making college admissions more equitable by reducing the emphasis on test scores.
The decisions by Harvard and CalTech come at a time when the future of standardized testing in college admissions is uncertain. While some institutions have extended their test-optional policies, others are reassessing the role of standardized tests in their admissions processes. For example, the University of California system has moved to a test-blind policy, meaning that it will not consider test scores at all in admissions decisions. Meanwhile, other prestigious institutions, such as Yale University and Dartmouth College, have also been reevaluating their testing requirements, with Dartmouth recently announcing the reinstatement of its standardized testing requirement for the class of 2029.
The debate over standardized testing is not limited to the United States. Internationally, universities are grappling with similar questions about how to fairly assess applicants' academic potential. In the UK, for instance, the use of A-Level exams has faced scrutiny, while in other parts of the world, national exams play a crucial role in university admissions.
As the higher education landscape continues to evolve, the decisions by Harvard and CalTech to require standardized test scores highlight the ongoing challenges institutions face in balancing the desire for a diverse and talented student body with the need for objective measures of academic readiness. These developments are likely to influence the admissions policies of other colleges and universities, as the debate over the role of standardized testing in higher education continues to unfold.
