Harvard reinstates standard testing requirement for admissions

AP Photo/Steven Senne

Harvard University announced on Thursday that it will reinstate its requirement for applicants to submit standardized test scores, such as the SAT or ACT, starting with the next admissions cycle. This decision marks a reversal of the university's pandemic-era policy that made standardized testing optional for four years.

In a statement, Hopi Hoekstra, the Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, cited several factors behind the decision, emphasizing the value of standardized tests in providing "important information" and serving as "a means for all students, regardless of their background and life experience, to provide information that is predictive of success in college and beyond," reports the Daily Caller.

"When students have the option of not submitting their test scores, they may choose to withhold information that, when interpreted by the admissions committee in the context of the local norms of their school, could have potentially helped their application," Hoekstra explained. "In short, more information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range."

The announcement stated that students unable to take the ACT or SAT can apply to take alternative standardized tests to fulfill the requirement. Hoekstra emphasized that Harvard's "whole-person admissions process" would continue to consider various factors, including "experiences, skills, talents, and contributions to their communities, as well as their academic qualifications."

"Fundamentally, we know that talent is universal, but opportunity is not," Hoekstra wrote. "With this change, we hope to strengthen our ability to identify these promising students and to give Harvard the opportunity to support their development as thinkers and leaders who will contribute to shaping our world."

Harvard's decision aligns with several other elite universities, including Dartmouth, Brown, Yale, and MIT, which have also reinstated standardized testing requirements after temporarily suspending them during the COVID-19 pandemic.