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Harvard recently announced in an article on its website that, starting in 2024–2025 admissions cycle, applicants will be required to submit standardized test scores with their college applications. These new testing requirements come in conjunction with many schools reverting their test-optional application policies and returning to required testing. 

The New Testing Requirements

Harvard's new testing policy will apply to the class of 2029 admissions cycle. Applicants will be required to submit either their SAT or ACT scores with their application. However, exceptions can be made for students who cannot take those tests, and Harvard will allow other eligible tests to be submitted instead.

For students interested in applying to Harvard, the Early Action deadline is November 1st, and the Regular Decision deadline is January 1st. In addition to standardized test schools, applicants will also need to submit their school reports, teacher evaluations, and final reports and transcriptions. The complete list of requirements is available on Harvard's official website. 

The Reason Behind This Decision

Representatives from Harvard have stated that the reason for this reversion of their application policy is because of the importance of standardized testing as a tool for predicting students' success in their institution. 

Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Hopi Hoekstra stated in Harvard's announcement, "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," she said. "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. In short, more information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range."

In their statement, Harvard also acknowledged the bias in standardized tests and how it may affect students of different backgrounds. "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 Chetty, the William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics 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."

Other Schools that Have Reverted Their Test-Optional Policies

Harvard's decision to revert its test-optional policies comes at a time when many other schools are doing the same. Initially, test-optional applications were widely adopted by US colleges as a reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic. Standardized testing became less accessible to a vast number of students, so test-optional policies were enacted so qualified students could still apply to their schools of choice. 

However, as admissions cycles have passed and schools have gathered more data about their application policies, many have concluded that standardized testing is a valuable tool and should be part of their admissions process. In the past several months, UT-Austin, Yale, and Dartmouth have reverted their Covid-era testing policies and will once again require their applicants to submit their test scores. 

Yale announced its new policy stating that not requiring test scores from applicants "worked to the disadvantage of applicants from lower socio-economic backgrounds." This was the opposite of Yale's intended result for test-optional admissions, and thus, they have reverted this policy for the class of 2028 and all future classes. 

UT-Austin also recently reverted its test-optional application policy, stating in its announcement that test scores were a good indicator of a student's academic success in their courses and college careers and that students with higher scores correlated to more outstanding achievement at their school. 

Each of the top US schools gathers data and comes to their own decisions about what is best for their applicant, student body, and institute as a whole. But more commonly now, the trend is for schools to revert their Covid-era policies and require standardized testing in the coming seasons. However, there are also well-respected schools out there that will always have a test-optional admissions policy from which students can choose to apply. 

For more information about Yale and UT-Austin's new testing policies, see our blogs, "UT Austin Changing Its Application Requirements: What You Need to Know" and "Yale Returning to Standardized Testing: What You Need to Know."

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