In 2020, the University of California system went further than most schools that dropped standardized testing during the pandemic — it didn't just make the SAT/ACT optional, it went fully test-blind, meaning admissions officers don't even look at a score if you submit one. Now, thousands of UC's own faculty are asking the university to reverse that.

What's actually happening

More than 2,300 UC faculty in STEM fields signed a petition asking the university to reinstate an SAT/ACT math-score requirement for STEM applicants starting with the fall 2027 admissions cycle. A separate petition, signed by roughly 900 faculty in social sciences, humanities, and professional fields, endorses that push and argues for also using the exams' verbal reasoning section.

This isn't fringe pushback — UC's own Academic Senate had already voted 51-0 back in 2020 to keep standardized testing for five more years. The Board of Regents overruled that faculty recommendation and eliminated testing anyway. The current petitions are, in a real sense, faculty asking the university to listen to what they already told it once.

UC has now created a faculty work group under its Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools to formally study the question. UC Regents Chair Maria Anguiano said a decision would come by June 2027 — though faculty have pushed for a faster timeline than that.

Why professors say they want it back

The core complaint from math faculty: a sharp rise in incoming students who aren't prepared for college-level coursework, forcing some to relearn material more typical of middle school math. Faculty argue an SAT or ACT score — specifically the math section — gave them a consistent, comparable signal of readiness that grades alone don't provide, since high school grading standards vary enormously between schools.

The counter-argument

The push isn't unanimous. Other UC faculty and outside advocacy groups argue standardized tests are biased against low-income and first-generation students, who have less access to test prep — the same reasoning that drove UC to drop testing in the first place. If UC does reinstate a requirement, expect this tension to shape exactly how it's implemented, not just whether it happens.

What this means if you're applying to a UC school right now

As of today, UC is still test-blind — even if you submit an SAT or ACT score, it isn't considered at all, a genuinely different policy from test-optional, which still lets a strong score help you. Nothing has changed yet, and any reinstatement wouldn't take effect before fall 2027 admissions at the earliest, based on the timeline faculty have proposed. If you're applying to UC before then, focus your energy where it's actually counted: GPA, course rigor, activities, and your Personal Insight Questions -- see how UC admissions actually works for the full mechanics of what that actually means. Worth checking back here as this develops, since a policy reversal at a university system this large tends to influence other schools' decisions too.

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