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While several highly selective universities are reinstating standardized tests as part of their admissions criteria, the University of Wisconsin system is weighing the opposite.
Leaders of the 13-campus system are considering permanently dropping ACT and SAT submission requirements for first-year applicants.
UW officials argue that high school GPA has a stronger association with student outcomes than ACT scores, while course rigor and other contextual information also matter in admissions decisions.
However, other top-tier universities, such as MIT and Harvard, have reinstated test-score requirements, arguing the exams provide additional evidence of applicants’ academic preparation and can help identify qualified students from less-resourced schools.
The UW System’s Board of Regents Education Committee considered the proposal in a first reading Sept. 17 as part of a broader rewrite of the system’s undergraduate-admissions policy.
The system suspended the test requirement in 2020; its current waiver runs through the 2027-28 academic year. The regents have yet to schedule final action on the proposed permanent policy.
Under the proposed policy, students applying through the traditional admissions route could still submit ACT or SAT scores, and campuses could consider them as additional academic information. However, the scores would not serve as the sole factor in admission decisions.
The proposal relies partly on research by UW-Madison’s Student Success Through Applied Research Lab, or SSTAR. According to materials presented to the board, the lab found that academic outcomes across the system had remained steady or improved since 2020, while high school GPA showed a stronger association with key student outcomes than ACT scores.
ACT scores did not demonstrate “a strong or consistent relationship” with first-to-second-year retention or four-year graduation, the materials state.
Mark Pitsch, director of media relations for the Universities of Wisconsin, directed The College Fix to the SSTAR research after multiple email requests for comment. He did not answer questions about when the regents could hold a final vote or how the system would ensure non-submitters are evaluated consistently.
Professor Nick Hillman, SSTAR’s director, did not respond to emails Sept. 27 and Oct. 1 seeking comment.
The proposed change also comes as UW expands admissions routes that do not use standardized-test scores.
Direct Admit Wisconsin gives qualifying students at participating high schools admission offers based on their academic records, while the Wisconsin Guarantee offers admission to qualifying Wisconsin students based primarily on class rank.
Regents materials say approximately 90 percent of Wisconsin high school juniors attend a school participating in Direct Admit Wisconsin, and the system expects to send about 40,000 Direct Admit offers to the incoming class of 2027.
Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, a group that advocates against the use of standardized tests in admissions, told The College Fix that UW’s research supports retaining test-optional admissions.
“It maintains test optional admissions for the University of Wisconsin system,” Feder said. “Their research [shows] that going test optional did nothing to undermine the academic abilities and standing of the people that they admit.”
Feder disputed the argument made by some selective institutions that requiring scores helps them find talented, low-income applicants. He said schools should ask how many qualified students are discouraged from applying when a score is required.
A test-optional policy still permits a student with a strong score to submit it, Feder said, while a test-blind policy prevents any applicant from submitting scores.
“Every testing expert in the land, including those who believe in things like the SAT, will tell you that should not be the sole determinant of admissions,” Feder told The College Fix.
He said UW should make clear that students who do not submit scores are not penalized and should employ review guidelines and oversight to ensure admissions readers follow that policy.
MIT, however, has taken the opposite approach.
The institute suspended its SAT requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic but reinstated its testing requirement in 2022, an early high-profile reversal among selective institutions. MIT, Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale now require applicants to submit scores. Columbia and Princeton have also announced plans to reinstate testing requirements in upcoming admission cycles.
Reached for comment, Sarah McDonnell, MIT’s deputy director of media relations, referred to a previous statement from Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services Stuart Schmill.
MIT’s research, Schmill said, found that standardized tests help the school assess applicants’ academic preparation and identify disadvantaged students who may lack access to advanced coursework or other enrichment opportunities. MIT’s 2022 explanation said a requirement is more equitable and transparent than a test-optional policy.
More than 1,400 University of California faculty members have signed an open letter calling on the system to reinstate SAT or ACT math scores for STEM applicants, citing concerns about students’ quantitative preparation for college-level coursework. The University of California remains test-free.
