Stanford College will reinstate the SAT or ACT as a requirement for undergraduate admission, becoming a member of a rush by different selective colleges to deliver again standardized testing after a pause through the pandemic.
The brand new coverage will cowl college students making use of within the fall of subsequent yr for admission to the category of 2030, Stanford mentioned in a assertion Friday, citing an interval evaluation that discovered the exams are “an important predictor of academic performance.” Testing will stay non-compulsory for college students making use of this yr.
Stanford is becoming a member of a return to standardized testing at colleges together with Harvard College, Yale College and the California Institute of Expertise amid a shifting admissions panorama for prime college students. Lots of the colleges have argued that the exams can present them with larger context about whether or not less-privileged candidates are probably to achieve faculty.
“The renewed testing requirement will allow Stanford to consider the fullest array of information in support of each student’s application,” the Palo Alto, California-based faculty mentioned.
Stanford mentioned it’s delaying the testing requirement till the autumn of 2025 to present potential candidates time to organize.
Testing opponents have lengthy argued that the requirement favors wealthier college students who can afford tutoring and preparation programs. Prestigious faculties began to bypass testing when it grew to become impractical on the peak of the pandemic as check facilities closed.
Since then, nonetheless, a few of the most elite US colleges have grown involved that not utilizing exams made it more durable to determine gifted college students from much less privileged backgrounds. Faculties have additionally been rethinking their software processes after the Supreme Courtroom dominated final yr that colleges can’t think about race in admissions.
The Massachusetts Institute of Expertise restored check necessities two years in the past.
Stanford is among the many most selective US faculties, admitting 3.9% of the candidates for the category of 2027, in response to college information. Its acceptance price was decrease than all Ivy League colleges besides Harvard, which had a 3.4% price for a similar cohort.
