Harvard University announced Thursday it will require ACT or SAT test scores for admissions starting in 2025. Like many schools around the country, Harvard initiated a test-optional policy in June 2020 because access to standardized testing was limited during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • Harvard University announced Thursday that it will require ACT or SAT scores for admissions starting in 2025

  • In 2020, Harvard adopted a test-optional policy because access to testing was limited during the pandemic

  • Several other top-tier schools have recently returned to requiring ACT and SAT scores for admissions

  • More than 1,900 schools remain test optional and at least 80 are test free

“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,” Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi Hoekstra said in a statement.

“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 said more information is valuable to identify talent “from across the socioeconomic range.”

To get a sense of admissions and diversity, Harvard researchers looked at 400 institutions and 3.5 million undergraduate students annually for a study published last year. They found standardized tests were “an important tool to identify promising students at less-well-resourced high schools, particularly when paired with other academic credentials,” according to a statement from the school.

While the researchers found that students from higher-income families often have more resources to help prepare for testing, they said standardized test scores make the school’s admissions process more merit-based. They found there was more bias toward higher-income families in recommendation letters, extracurricular activities and essays.

The school cited an Opportunity Insights study that showed test scores were more predictive of academic success at college than grades in high school.

For the past four admissions cycles, Harvard has allowed students to apply without submitting ACT and SAT scores. The majority of those who enrolled, however, chose to submit them.

Harvard is the latest in a string of selective schools that had embraced test-optional policies during the pandemic that have recently reverted to requiring the ACT or SAT, including Brown, Dartmouth, Georgetown and Yale.

At least 1,900 other schools are still test optional, and at least 80 are test free, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.

The Ivy League school said it will formally assess the required testing policy at regular intervals in the future.