The Campanile at the UC Berkeley campus.
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The admissions process for first-year undergraduates at the University of California may get a major overhaul.
Days after hundreds of UC faculty from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines signed an open letter calling for the reinstatement of standardized test requirements for admissions, the University of California Academic Senate announced a formal review process of its policies Thursday.
“In recent years, it has become clear that academic preparedness for college is a growing challenge,” said Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu in a letter Thursday. “The widening gap in college readiness among high school graduates is not a new phenomenon, but rather an ongoing issue, likely driven by many factors affecting admissions and students’ academic success across the country. The Academic Senate has been working with partners from across California’s K–12 and higher education systems to better understand and support students’ college readiness.”
The review process, which will run throughout the 2026-27 academic year, will specifically look into bringing back the use of standardized tests like the SAT and ACT in the first-year admissions process as well as evaluating the A-G course requirements that high school students must complete to be eligible for entry to the UC system. The use of SAT and ACT test scores in UC admissions was removed in 2020.
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At the end of this review process, recommendations will have to be approved by the UC Board of Regents at a public meeting. At the earliest, any modifications to the current policy on admissions may be implemented for the first-year cohort entering university in Fall 2029.
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Tarini Mehta is The Sacramento Bee’s higher education reporter. Previously, she covered education in Napa County for The Press Democrat through the California Local News Fellowship. An alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, she has written for publications such as the Boston Globe, the Bay Area News Group, The Diplomat, India Today, The Hindu and The Print.