Stanford College will reinstate the SAT or ACT as a requirement for undergraduate admission, becoming a member of a rush by different selective faculties to deliver again standardized testing after a pause throughout 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 overview that discovered the exams are “an essential predictor of educational efficiency.” 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 faculties together with Harvard College, Yale College and the California Institute of Expertise amid a shifting admissions panorama for prime college students. Most of the faculties have argued that the exams can present them with higher context about whether or not less-privileged candidates are seemingly to reach school.
“The renewed testing requirement will permit Stanford to think about the fullest array of knowledge in assist of every pupil’s software,” the Palo Alto, California-based college mentioned.
Stanford mentioned it’s delaying the testing requirement till the autumn of 2025 to provide potential candidates time to arrange.
Testing opponents have lengthy argued that the requirement favors wealthier college students who can afford tutoring and preparation programs. Prestigious schools began to bypass testing when it turned impractical on the top of the pandemic as take a look at facilities closed.
Since then, nonetheless, a number of the most elite US faculties have grown involved that not utilizing exams made it more durable to establish gifted college students from much less privileged backgrounds. Schools have additionally been rethinking their software processes after the Supreme Courtroom dominated final yr that faculties can’t take into account race in admissions.
The Massachusetts Institute of Expertise restored take a look at necessities two years in the past.
Stanford is among the many most selective US schools, admitting 3.9% of the candidates for the category of 2027, based on college information. Its acceptance fee was decrease than all Ivy League faculties besides Harvard, which had a 3.4% fee for a similar cohort.
