This post was updated June 11 at 3:24 p.m.
A UC-wide faculty board will reconsider its stance on requiring standardized testing for first-year admissions, the group announced Thursday.
The UC paused its standardized testing requirement for first-year applicants six years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The University later stopped considering applicants’ scores altogether, making it one of the few universities to go permanently test blind.
The UC Academic Senate Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools’ decision comes two weeks after more than 1,400 UC faculty called on the University to reinstate SAT and ACT requirements for undergraduate STEM applicants in a letter, alleging that entering students’ math skills have dropped significantly in recent years.
[Related: Hundreds of UC faculty call to reinstate SAT, ACT requirements for STEM applicants]
The Academic Senate said in a Thursday letter that it will host a work group over the next year to examine whether standardized testing requirements should be reinstated. The Senate does not have the final say over the requirements, but it can provide recommendations to the UC Board of Regents, which makes the decision, according to the letter.
Ahmet Palazoglu, the chair of the UC Academic Senate, said in a separate Thursday letter that students’ academic preparedness has become a growing challenge nationwide.
“I know we want every student admitted to UC to make the most of their college education,” said Palazoglu, a professor of chemical engineering at UC Davis, in the letter. “Our responsibility is to ensure that our policies and practices make that possible.”
UC President James Milliken said in a Thursday statement that the UC Board of Regents will receive an update on the Academic Assembly’s progress in July, adding that he is looking forward to considering the work group’s recommendations.
“The Board of Regents and University leadership take very seriously the critical issue of college preparedness, and the UC Academic Senate has proposed a comprehensive, data-driven review to support its recommendations to strengthen student readiness and success at UC,” he said in the emailed statement. “There are few things more important on our agenda.”
The May letter by UC faculty cited a November 2025 UC San Diego Senate-Administration Workgroup on Admissions report, which found that the number of students with math skills below high-school level increased by nearly 30 times over the past five years.
Students’ application essays and grade point averages do not provide enough reliable factors to accurately assess students’ academic preparation in an age of artificial intelligence and grade inflation, UC faculty said in the May letter.
“Obscuring preparation gaps harms both students individually and the University collectively,” faculty said in the May letter. “It offers the appearance of access while undermining the chance of success.”
