Colleges Keep SAT and ACT Requirements Optional

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CHARLOTTE SHAO Copy Editor

According to the New York Times, many colleges and universities across the nation have made SAT and ACT scores optional for students applying, due to the sudden shutdown of testing sites and schools. This means that students who have not taken the test yet will not need to do so this year, even if it has been a prominent part of the college application process before. 

A few universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale will reimplement the requirement for the graduating class of 2022. Other schools like Tufts University and the College of William and Mary have put the requirement on a three-year hold. Still others have removed the requirement altogether. Many have simply made it optional for the coming years. Yet a few states, like Florida and Wyoming, have not dropped the requirement despite students and families calling for them to do so. 

According to ABC7 News, back in 2019, a coalition made up of students and the Compton Unified School District called for the removal of the score requirement. Lower income, disabled and first generation college students have stated that it is discriminatory toward those with less time, money and opportunity to study and get help. For those students, this is a victory. 

“I think dropping the SAT score requirements really allows students to feel less stressed,” Junior Felia Budiman said.

To others, the test score was the one quantifiable quality that they had on their application, in the midst of more subjective extracurriculars and non-academic interests. According to CBS News, almost 2.2 million students in the Class of 2020 took the SAT despite it being made optional for their year.

Many schools across the nation are still announcing whether or not they will drop the SAT and ACT requirements. On Sept. 1, a California judge ruled that the University of California cannot accept any scores at all. A list of colleges that have made the scores optional is available through the website of The National Center of Fair and Open Testing, or FairTest. Find it here: https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional .