UC Drops SAT/ACT Requirement! Yay?
- YiLan Nelson
- May 27, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 29, 2021
As I am sure you guys have heard, the UC schools located in California have dropped the SAT/ACT requirement. Which is music to the ears for thousands of high schoolers. In fact the UC school system announced that it plans to eliminate the SAT/ACT completely by 2025 and not even allow people to submit their scores (NYTimes). Which makes me mentally scream in shock, because I did not expect the prestigious UC system to eliminate the SAT/ACT soooo soon.
But while the UC system won't be allowing SAT/ACT scores to be submitted, the New York Times also mentioned that they will be "creating [their] own admissions test". Which would scare the crap out of me if I had to be one of the first ones to take it, but luckily being a Junior in high school I do not have to worry about that. But I wonder if the assessment would be universal for all of California, or if other systems are going to start creating their own assessments in replace of the SAT/ACT? If that were the case, that could mean wayyyyy more tests a student would have to take.
I mean if I were a student in the future, I would want to keep as many options open as I can but then I would be sacrificing so much time studying and preparing for the 3 or more life changing tests... which would end up being worse than taking the SAT/ACT despite the fact that they are unfair. This also brings up the sooooo many questions!
Such as:
-Will students have to pay to take the assessment?
-Will it be universal to all California schools?
-If so, does that mean each state will have to make their own college test?
-Will the new assessment end up falling into the same issues as the SAT/ACT?
-What will be on the assessment?
-Will it involve more topics?
-What topics will it involve?
-How broad of a test will it be?
-How long will it be?
And there's probably sooo many more logistical issues that will have to be figured out. But for me, one of my biggest questions is "how will admissions compare those who turned in their scores compared to who didn't".
Like what happens if an admissions person has two identical people but only one submitted their SAT/ACT scores? Maybe they pick the one with the SAT/ACT score since there is more information given? But then what if it turns out that the person who did not turn one in was unable to take the SAT/ACT and if they had been able to take the test they would have scored higher than the person who did submit a a score? To me, I can't find the purpose of the SAT/ACT in regards to admissions because by making it optional, admissions is going to have an extremely difficult time trying to find the right student for the school. Which bring me to my next point.
Where is the explanation as to how admissions is going to incorporate the SAT/ACT into the decision process? I want to know exactly what the repercussions, if any, of not submitting an SAT/ACT score are going to be. I really hope the UC system and other universities give an explanation to the process because without it, it could impact millions of people in a bad way.
Even if it turns out that these universities secretly want SAT/ACT scores then that is eliminating millions of competitors who never had the chance to take the tests and would end up in under qualified people getting in, whereas the students who would fit in perfectly get booted out. And who knows? Maybe I am overreacting and it turns out everything will go perfectly, but considering more universities are throwing out a component of colleges applications that have been around for decades, I am going to assume there is a rocky road regarding college admissions ahead.
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