Harvard returns to requiring standardized test scores for admissions

April 11 (UPI) -- Harvard announced Thursday it will reinstitute the mandatory submission of standardized test scores for fall 2025 admissions.

It's an abrupt reversal from previous policy of being test-optional on admissions through the Class of 2030.

The test-optional policy started during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I write to announce that, starting with next year's admissions cycle, Harvard College will require the submission of standardized test scores," Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Hopi Hoekstra said in a statement. "The College will accept the SAT or ACT to meet the standardized test requirement. In exceptional cases in which those tests are not accessible, a set of alternative standardized tests can meet the requirement."

A 2023 paper co-authored in 2023 by Ackman professor of public economics Raj Chetty, Black professor of political economy David Deming, and Brown economics professor John Friedman, said the standardized test scores can help find promising students at less well-resourced high schools.

"Critics correctly note that standardized tests are not an unbiased measure of students' qualifications, as students from higher-income families often have greater access to test prep and other resources," Chetty said in a statement. "But the data reveal that other measures -- recommendation letters, extracurriculars, essays -- are even more prone to such biases. Considering standardized test scores is likely to make the admissions process at Harvard more meritocratic while increasing socioeconomic diversity."

Yale University returned to standardized admissions tests in February. Those types of tests were thought to undermine admissions chances for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

But when Yale brought them back, Jeremiah Quinlan, Yale's dean of undergraduate admissions, said returning to the use of test scores can actually help those applicants.

According to Quinlan, research "strongly suggests" that requiring scores from all applicants benefits those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Dartmouth and Brown also have returned to requiring the test scores for admissions beginning with the class of 2029, which would be fall 2025 admission.

Harvard's decision to return to the standardized test requirement has left Class of 2029 applicants with just six opportunities to take the tests in time for the application deadline Jan. 1.