Harvard University will require its applicants to submit standardized test scores for admission, beginning with students who apply to start school in fall 2025, the university has said.
The university announced the reversal of the pandemic-era policy that made the exam score requirements optional in a statement on Thursday. It is the latest school to start mandating tests again for admissions after Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced similar updates.
That research found that standardized tests were an “important tool to identify promising students at less-well-resourced high schools, particularly when paired with other academic credentials,” the school said.
“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,” Hopi Hoekstra, a Harvard dean, 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,” she continued. “In short, more information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range.”
Criticism Over Standardized Testing
The school initially said it planned to maintain its test-optional policy through the class of 2030, which would have started in fall 2026.Under the change announced at Harvard on Thursday, students applying for fall 2025 admission will be required to submit standardized test scores from the SAT or ACT exams to satisfy the testing component of the application.
According to Harvard, the majority of students who applied to the university over the past four years have opted to submit test scores, despite the test-optional policy.
Harvard ‘Considers the Whole Person’
Supporters argue that standardized testing is a good way of predicting college grades and performance, including a student’s chance of success post-college.“Critics correctly note that standardized tests are not an unbiased measure of students’ qualifications, as students from higher-income families often have greater access to test prep and other resources,” said Mr. Chetty, a professor of public economics at Harvard and director of Opportunity Insights. “But the data reveal that other measures—recommendation letters, extracurriculars, essays—are even more prone to such biases. Considering standardized test scores is likely to make the admissions process at Harvard more meritocratic while increasing socioeconomic diversity.”
Harvard officials added that test scores will be just one factor among many as its admissions committee “considers the whole person” in its decision-making process.
“Fundamentally, we know that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. 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,” Ms. Hoekstra said.
