Stanford University will reinstate the SAT or ACT as a requirement for undergraduate admission, joining an initiative by other universities to reinstate standardized testing after a pause in the course of the pandemic.
The latest policy applies to students applying for admission to the category of 2030 next fall, Stanford said in a opinion Friday, citing a daily review that found the tests are “an important indicator of academic performance.” For students applying this yr, the tests will remain optional.
Stanford is participating in a to return to standardized tests at universities reminiscent of Harvard University, Yale University, and the California Institute of Technology, while the admissions situation for top students is changing. Many of the colleges argue that the tests may give them a greater idea of ​​whether less privileged applicants are more likely to succeed on the university.
“The renewed testing requirement will enable Stanford to consider the most comprehensive range of information in each student’s application,” said the university, based in Palo Alto, California.
Stanford announced that the testing requirement could be postponed until fall 2025 to present potential applicants time to arrange.
Opponents of the tests have long argued that the requirement favors wealthier students who can afford tutoring and prep courses. Prestigious colleges began waiving testing when it became impractical at the peak of the pandemic as a result of the closure of testing centers.
Since then, nonetheless, among the most elite U.S. schools have anxious that the abandonment of tests has made it harder to discover talented students from less privileged backgrounds. Colleges have also reconsidered their application processes after the Supreme Court ruled last yr that schools cannot consider students’ race in admissions.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology reintroduced mandatory testing two years ago.
Stanford is some of the selective U.S. colleges, admitting only 3.9 percent of applicants for the category of 2027, in keeping with the university. The acceptance rate was lower than all Ivy League universities except Harvard, where the speed for a similar class was 3.4 percent.
