by James A. Bacon

The University of Virginia is considering reinstituting mandatory submission of standardized test scores in admissions applications, Provost Ian Baucom told the Board of Visitors Thursday.

Many elite universities scrapped the mandatory SAT and ACT scores during the COVID epidemic in favor of “wholistic” admissions criteria. Now some are re-evaluating the decision. Citing the recent actions of peer institutions regarding the tests, Baucom said, the University was engaging a group of economics-department faculty with research expertise in higher education to “advise us whether to return to standardized tests in admissions processes” while still considering a “broader set of factors.”

The goal is to recruit and admit “extraordinary students who will flourish at the university,” Baucom said. The economists are gathering data right now, he added, and he promised to keep the board updated.

Baucom gave no explanation of why the University was considering doing an about-face on its decision four years ago to make the SAT-score submissions voluntary — roughly half of applicants continued to provide them — nor did he elaborate upon what “broader set of factors” might be in store.

Standardized test scores have long been criticized as part of the “systemic racism” afflicting higher education, and reducing the weight they are given in admissions was widely interpreted as a victory for anti-racism. But others have argued that standardized tests highlight talented minority applicants whose families can’t afford the internships, clubs, sports, music lessons and other extracurricular activities accessible to affluent households in more wholistic approaches.

UVA’s potential reversal comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling restricting the use of race in admissions, as well as enactment of a Virginia law forbidding the consideration of an applicant’s legacy status in admissions.

After the Supreme Court decision, UVA modified its version of the common application form to eliminate the “race” checkbox but allowed applicants to mention their race or ethnicity in their essays.

As it turned out, the racial composition of this year’s entering class has changed only a little from last year. The percentage of African-American students declined about a percentage point to 7.2% of the entering class. The percentage of Hispanic students increased more than a percentage point to 9.0%. UVA officials touted this year’s class as “the most diverse” in the University’s history.

Republished with permission from Bacon’s Rebellion.