UC faculty call for SAT/ACT requirement for STEM

More than 800 faculty members across the University of California system are calling for the reinstatement of standardized testing requirements for applicants to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors. In an open letter to university leaders, the professors warn that six years of test-free admissions have led to severe and widening gaps in mathematical preparation, forcing instructors to teach middle-school-level math in college classrooms.

The letter, organized by mathematicians at UC Berkeley and signed by seven of the system's nine math department chairs, requests that SAT or ACT exams be required for STEM applicants beginning in the fall of 2027. It also asks for STEM faculty to be given formal oversight of readiness standards for their majors. The professors argue that without a reliable, standardized metric, they cannot accurately gauge whether incoming students are prepared for college-level coursework.

Their concerns are supported by a November report from a UC San Diego Academic Senate work group. That report documented a roughly thirtyfold increase between 2020 and 2025 in the number of incoming first-year students whose math skills tested below the...