Harvard is reversing its test-optional policy, the university announced Thursday, making standardized testing once again a requirement of admission.
Students applying to Harvard College for fall 2025 must submit either SAT or ACT scores, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences said. There are exceptions for certain circumstances when applicants cannot access SAT or ACT testing, in which case alternative tests such as AP and IB exam results may be accepted.
“Standardized tests are a means for all students, regardless of their background and life experience, to provide information that is predictive of success in college and beyond,” Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Hopi Hoekstra said in a statement. “Indeed, 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 framed the decision as a way to help rather than hinder prospective students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“In short, more information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range,” she said.
Some Harvard faculty argue that the tests can allow any applicant to demonstrate their skills and aptitudes whereas other performance metrics, such as the college application essay, can favor privileged kids with more resources.
David J. Deming, a political economy professor at Harvard Kennedy School, told the Harvard Gazette: “The virtue of standardized tests is their universality.”
“Not everyone can hire an expensive college coach to help them craft a personal essay,” he added. “But everyone has the chance to ace the SAT or the ACT. While some barriers do exist, the widespread availability of the test provides, in my view, the fairest admissions policy for disadvantaged applicants.”
Multiple Ivy Leagues have lifted their pandemic-era pause on the testing prerequisite, with Dartmouth College being the first to restore the requirement in February for admissions beginning with the Class of 2029. A few weeks later, Yale University brought back the requirement after it reevaluated the school’s optional testing policy and discovered that it was detrimental to the admission prospects of lower-income, first-generation, and rural students.
The removal of the requirement came amid criticism that it was undermining racial diversity. Even a spokesperson for the College Board in 2021 told the New York Times: “Real inequities exist in American education, and they are reflected in every measure of academic achievement, including the SAT.” The University of California system eliminated both the SAT and ACT tests from admissions decisions across its ten schools, including Berkeley, in 2021.
Like Deming and Harvard economics professor Raj Chetty also found in their studies, Yale researchers observed that students from poor school districts often lack the opportunity to strengthen their application with advanced courses, strong teacher recommendations, and high-profile extracurricular activities. The testing requirement serves as a significant equalizer for students who don’t attend affluent schools.