Palo Alto High School and Gunn High School juniors planning to apply to UC campuses in fall 2028 still don't know whether they'll need SAT scores.
They won't get an answer until at least next summer.
The University of California's Academic Senate will complete its review of standardized testing's role in admissions by June 2027, UC Board of Regents Chair Maria Anguiano said at the regents' meeting Tuesday, July 14 in San Francisco.
The announcement came after days of confusion. UC's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, known as BOARS, voted Friday, July 10 to rescind its previously announced plan to study standardized testing. The Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle both reported Monday, July 13 that the review had been cancelled entirely.
It hadn't. UC Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu issued a statement that same evening: "The Academic Senate is not rescinding its commitment to a comprehensive review of standardized testing in admissions," he wrote on the UC Office of the President website. The Senate is revising its timeline, he said, not abandoning the work.
What prompted the review
More than 3,000 UC faculty members signed letters in spring and summer 2026 calling for the SAT's return. Roughly 1,400 STEM professors sent an open letter on Thursday, June 11, 2026 saying first-year students were arriving unprepared, needing to relearn middle-school math. An additional 1,600 faculty from humanities, social sciences and arts cited deficiencies in verbal reasoning and writing.
UC Berkeley physics and mathematics professor Mina Aganagic told the regents Wednesday that without the SAT, "our introductory courses are forced to review elementary and middle school content."
Opponents pushed back at the same meeting. Jessie Ryan, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, called the move "the wrong solution to an undefined problem," noting that UC's four-year graduation rate rose from 71% in 2020 to 74% in 2026 after testing was dropped. The UC Student Association, representing 237,000 undergraduates, sent a letter opposing reinstatement and citing gains in racial and ethnic diversity since 2020.
What this means for PAUSD applicants
UC campuses including Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz are popular targets for PAUSD applicants. The system's current policy is test-blind, meaning SAT scores are not considered in admissions decisions. If the regents ultimately reinstate testing, the theoretical earliest effective date would be the fall 2028 application cycle.
But the San Francisco Chronicle reported that it remains unclear whether the regents can complete their process in time, since many SAT and ACT test dates will have already passed before the October-November 2027 application window opens.
Stanford University already requires SAT or ACT scores, having reinstated the requirement in June 2024 for applicants starting in fall 2025. Columbia University became the last Ivy League school to require test scores in summer 2026, according to Politico.
Only the Board of Regents can change UC admissions policy. After receiving the Academic Senate's recommendation, the board must hear at least one informational agenda item before voting at a subsequent meeting.
The Palo Alto Ledger will follow up when the Academic Senate publishes its recommendation, expected by June 2027.
