May 29, 2026 08:42 PM
Citing ‘severe’ math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM applicants
https://www.latimes.com/california/story...admissions
KEY POINTS: Hundreds of UC faculty are urging a return of SAT or ACT test requirements for STEM applicants, citing math deficits after six years of being test-free. A UC San Diego report of soaring math unpreparedness is fueling faculty warnings that reliable testing is needed for admissions. Critics call the SAT inequitable and say high school grades are a good predictor of college success.
EXCERPTS: UC gained national attention in May 2020 when regents unanimously voted to suspend SAT and ACT testing requirements and eliminate them entirely by 2025. Board members cited concerns the tests were biased against students of color and those from lower-income families — including students who did not have access to prep courses.
[...] “Something had changed drastically. The bottom was taken out, and there were 25 to 30% of the students who were in free fall. There was nothing you could do for them. They were just not prepared.”
Stankova said her colleagues were bracing for sharp criticism. “Our letter is going to be attacked from all sides,” she said. The math professor argued that the SAT push was in aid of disadvantaged students.
“I don’t see SAT hurting diversity. I actually see it helping it, because you have right now the lack of SATs hurting the underrepresented minorities. You give them a ticket, an entrance ticket to a great university system like UC, only that they fail. How is that diversity?” Stankova said.
Not all see a return to testing as the best path. A September 2025 report by Saul Geiser of the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education and a former senior UC admissions official, said the SAT is “a poor fit for America’s public universities.”
Geiser argued that the high school GPA outperforms the SAT in predicting first-year student success once income and race are controlled. He also argued that ranking applicants by SAT scores ends up disadvantaging high-achieving low-income, first-generation and underrepresented minorities... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.latimes.com/california/story...admissions
KEY POINTS: Hundreds of UC faculty are urging a return of SAT or ACT test requirements for STEM applicants, citing math deficits after six years of being test-free. A UC San Diego report of soaring math unpreparedness is fueling faculty warnings that reliable testing is needed for admissions. Critics call the SAT inequitable and say high school grades are a good predictor of college success.
EXCERPTS: UC gained national attention in May 2020 when regents unanimously voted to suspend SAT and ACT testing requirements and eliminate them entirely by 2025. Board members cited concerns the tests were biased against students of color and those from lower-income families — including students who did not have access to prep courses.
[...] “Something had changed drastically. The bottom was taken out, and there were 25 to 30% of the students who were in free fall. There was nothing you could do for them. They were just not prepared.”
Stankova said her colleagues were bracing for sharp criticism. “Our letter is going to be attacked from all sides,” she said. The math professor argued that the SAT push was in aid of disadvantaged students.
“I don’t see SAT hurting diversity. I actually see it helping it, because you have right now the lack of SATs hurting the underrepresented minorities. You give them a ticket, an entrance ticket to a great university system like UC, only that they fail. How is that diversity?” Stankova said.
Not all see a return to testing as the best path. A September 2025 report by Saul Geiser of the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education and a former senior UC admissions official, said the SAT is “a poor fit for America’s public universities.”
Geiser argued that the high school GPA outperforms the SAT in predicting first-year student success once income and race are controlled. He also argued that ranking applicants by SAT scores ends up disadvantaging high-achieving low-income, first-generation and underrepresented minorities... (MORE - missing details)
