Texas university joins growing list of colleges reinstating standardized testing
The University of Texas at Austin (UT) reinstated its standardized testing requirement, joining a growing list of higher education institutions.
"Our goals are to attract the best and brightest students and to make sure every student is successful once they are here. Standardized scores combined with high school GPA support this goal by improving early identification of students who demonstrated the greatest academic achievement, the most potential, and those who can most benefit from support through our student success programs," President Jay Hartzell said.
The move comes four years after having test-optional admissions for undergraduate applications. UT suspended ACT/SAT score requirements in Spring 2020 due to "limited testing availability during the COVID-19 pandemic."
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The university added that due to the plethora of high school GPAs surrounding 4.0, the standardized test requirement is a "proven differentiator" that serves the best interest of the applicant and UT.
The applicants who opted to submit their standardized test scores tended to demonstrate a strong academic performance at the collegiate level and higher graduation rates, according to data released from UT. Those students tend to fare better than the students who opted not to submit standardized test scores.
They explained further that "students who submitted standardized scores performed significantly better on those exams and in their first semester of college relative to those who did not take the test or chose not to have their scores considered as part of a holistic review."
UT and Brown University are the latest schools to reinstate standardized test requirements in their admissions process.
UT Austin is based in Austin, Texas, and presides over 50,000 students.
Many universities dropped the requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic and then reinstated it. Other prestigious institutions in the nation, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgetown University, reinstated the requirement in their admissions process.
Dartmouth College became the first Ivy League institution to reinstate its standardized testing requirement for the next application cycle. Yale followed soon after.
"Nearly four years later, having studied the role of testing in our admissions process… we believe a standardized testing requirement will improve—not detract from—our ability to bring the most promising and diverse students to our campus," Dartmouth announced in February.
On the other hand, Stanford University is among the universities considering the matter, with students and staff reportedly being divided on the measure, according to a campus newspaper. Stanford considers the matter after the University of California Board of Regents voted to permanently to eliminate standardized test requirements.