Will UC bring back SAT, ACT tests for admissions? Formal review process begins
The admissions process for first-year undergraduates at the University of California may get a major overhaul.
Days after hundreds of UC faculty from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines signed an open letter calling for the reinstatement of standardized test requirements for admissions, the University of California Academic Senate announced a formal review process of its policies Thursday.
“In recent years, it has become clear that academic preparedness for college is a growing challenge,” said Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu in a letter Thursday. “The widening gap in college readiness among high school graduates is not a new phenomenon, but rather an ongoing issue, likely driven by many factors affecting admissions and students’ academic success across the country. The Academic Senate has been working with partners from across California’s K–12 and higher education systems to better understand and support students’ college readiness.”
The review process, which will run throughout the 2026-27 academic year, will specifically look into bringing back the use of standardized tests like the SAT and ACT in the first-year admissions process as well as evaluating the A-G course requirements that high school students must complete to be eligible for entry to the UC system.
The use of SAT and ACT test scores in UC admissions was removed in 2020. The first-year requirements for admissions to the University of California currently include completion of the 15 yearlong A-G courses with a letter grade of C or above in high school, a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all A-G courses completed in grades 10 and 11, and a valid high school diploma.
At the end of the Academic Senate’s review process, recommendations will have to be approved by the UC Board of Regents at a public meeting. At the earliest, any modifications to the current policy on admissions may be implemented for the first-year cohort entering university in Fall 2029.
How will the review process work?
To conduct this review, the Academic Senate’s committee on admissions will form two faculty-led workgroups consisting of representatives from the UC, California State University system, the California Board of Education and the K-12 system. The workgroup evaluating the use of standardized tests will look into the pros and cons of incorporating SAT, ACT or 11th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment scores in the admissions process.
The other workgroup will look into whether the A-G high school courses adequately prepare students for success at the UC.
The task ahead of these workgroups will be to balance the need for stronger admissions policies and better high school preparation while ensuring access to the University of California for eligible students remains intact, according to a report that outlines the review process.
Both will submit their final reports by May 15, 2027. After gathering input from stakeholders within and outside the UC system, the recommendations will be reviewed by the Academic Senate before being sent to the UC president and finally the Board of Regents for a vote.
“Throughout this process, we will be guided by evidence and go where the data takes us,” Academic Senate Chair Palazoglu said Thursday.
While the Academic Senate’s examination of math preparation and admissions policy is not new, the issue received fresh attention after UC faculty members released their letter last week. The letter currently has more than 1,400 signatures.
California high schoolers fall behind in math
In the letter, faculty members drew attention to a “widening divergence” in math preparation levels within a single classroom. A 2025 report by the UC San Diego Academic Senate, for example, noted that the number of students whose math skills were below high school level had increased thirty-fold between 2020 and 2025.
This mirrors statewide concerns over math scores for California students in school. Per data from the 2024-25 school year, only slightly more than 30% of high school juniors across the state were meeting or exceeding the standard for math. To address this, the state adopted its Mathematics Framework in 2023 to provide educators with guidance in classroom teaching. In the May Revision of the California budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom included $60 million to expand a grant program for math teaching, coaching and leadership at the school level.
This trend of inadequate math preparation among first-year university students, UC faculty said in their letter, results in instructors having to reteach middle school math while the level of course content drops below what’s needed for advanced STEM work.
“Left unaddressed, these trends will lead to declining graduation rates, longer time to degree, and reduced completion of STEM majors, with consequences for California’s highly skilled STEM workforce,” they wrote.
For this growing “abilities gap,” they placed the blame squarely on the elimination of the SAT/ACT requirement from the UC’s admissions policies in 2020. At that time, an 18-member Standardized Testing Task Force convened by the Academic Senate had recommended that the use of SAT and ACT tests be continued. However, then President Janet Napolitano advised the Board of Regents to phase them out anyway and explore the creation of a UC-specific exam. These recommendations were approved and the standardized test requirements were removed beginning with the Fall 2021 cohort. In the months after that, the UC neither created a new test nor approved the inclusion of the Smarter Balanced assessment in its admissions policy.
Meanwhile, schools like Harvard University and Stanford University — which removed their standardized test score requirements as a result of pandemic-related disruptions — recently reinstated them. Both institutions cautioned that no score guaranteed admission and would instead be part of a “holistic” and “whole-person” process.
The UC STEM faculty letter emphasized that the SAT/ACT requirement for applicants to STEM majors was essential to ensuring the public university system remained a “global leader in STEM” and that students are placed where they can best be served within state’s higher education system that includes the UC, CSU and community colleges.
Critics of standardized tests like the SAT, meanwhile, have for decades stated that they favor students from higher income families and communities, in part because they can afford pricey test preparation courses and counseling. At a public university system like the University of California, they say, this could reduce access for socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 11:19 AM.
