Columbia University permanently drops SAT and ACT scores for admission

Columbia University has become the first Ivy League school to indefinitely suspend standardized test scores as a requirement for admission.

In an announcement on Wednesday, the elite university in Manhattan said SAT or ACT scores would be optional for undergraduate applicants to Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The announcement explained its admission review process ‘is rooted in the belief that students are dynamic, multi-faceted individuals who cannot be defined by any single factor.’ 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools including Columbia suspended testing requirements, and a growing number have extended test-optional policies at least through the next several years.

Columbia University has become the first Ivy League school to indefinitely suspend standardized test scores as a requirement for admission

However, Columbia’s move makes it the first in the Ivy League to drop standardized testing requirements without a proposed end-date to reinstate the requirements.

While undergrad applicants can still submit SAT or ACT scores if they choose, Columbia insisted in a statement: ‘Students who choose not to submit test scores will not be at a disadvantage in our process.’ 

‘Our review is purposeful and nuanced—respecting varied backgrounds, voices and experiences—in order to best determine an applicant’s suitability for admission and ability to thrive in our curriculum and our community, and to advance access to our educational opportunities,’ the university said. 

‘We have designed our application to afford the greatest possible opportunity and flexibility for students to represent themselves fully and showcase their academic talents, interests and goals,’ the statement added.

Columbia joins a growing number of colleges moving to extend test-optional policies, or ending consideration of test scores entirely. 

Harvard University previously said tests won’t be required through 2026 amid continued challenges. 

The University of Wisconsin announced that test scores will remain optional through the spring 2025 semester. 

The University of California system became the largest higher education institute in the US to abandon test scores, as part of a 2021 court settlement. 

Facing a lawsuit from students and groups who said the SAT and ACT are biased against students of color, the system opted to stop considering test scores entirely.

The organizations behind the SAT and ACT have denied allegations that their tests are biased.

Columbia joins a growing number of colleges moving to extend test-optional policies, or ending consideration of test scores entirely

The fairness of standardized tests also came under scrutiny in 2019 as investigators revealed that, as part of the sprawling Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, some wealthy parents had paid to cheat on their children’s exams. 

Some colleges dropped their requirements in the wake of those revelations. 

The College Board, which administers the SAT, announced last year that the test will move online to a digital format, instead of being a paper and pencil exam, and that it will be shortened from three hours to two hours. 

The format change is scheduled to roll out this year in the US and in 2024 internationally, as part of an effort to boost the exam’s relevancy as more colleges make the test optional, it said.