In a striking open letter circulating across the University of California system, hundreds of mathematics professors are calling on UC leadership to reinstate the SAT and ACT as admissions requirements. Their concern isn't bureaucratic — it's academic. They're seeing it in their classrooms every semester: students arriving at UC campuses underprepared for college-level math.

It's a signal worth paying attention to, especially if you have a student heading toward a competitive university in the next few years.

What the Professors Are Saying

Reported by Wall Street Journal in late May 2026, the article argues that standardized test scores — particularly math scores — serve as a meaningful signal of whether students are ready for the quantitative demands of college coursework. Without them, professors say, admissions offices are flying partly blind, and students who lack foundational math skills are being set up to struggle.

Their concern isn't about gatekeeping. It's about preparation and student success. When students arrive in calculus, statistics, or even introductory economics without the algebra and precalculus foundations those courses assume, the consequences are real: higher failure rates, more students needing remediation, and in some cases, students abandoning STEM paths they were genuinely excited about.

This is the same argument that has fueled a quiet reversal in the national test-optional trend. Yale, Dartmouth, MIT, and many other elite universities have brought standardized testing back as a requirement or strong recommendation in recent admissions cycles. The UC professors are pushing their system to do the same.

Why Test-Optional Didn't Solve What It Promised

When UC went test-optional — and then effectively test-blind — during the COVID pandemic, the reasoning made sense in context. Millions of students couldn't access testing centers. It seemed unfair to penalize them.

But the policy stayed in place long after testing centers reopened, driven by concerns that the SAT and ACT disadvantaged students from lower-income families and under-resourced schools. Those concerns are legitimate and worth taking seriously.

The problem is that removing a data point doesn't remove the underlying inequity — it just makes it less visible. Research from UC's own academic senate found that high school GPA, the main remaining metric, can vary wildly depending on a school's grading standards, and that SAT scores were actually more predictive of college success for certain student populations than GPA alone.

Removing test scores didn't level the playing field. It made the field harder to read.

What This Means for Students Applying to College Right Now

Here's the practical takeaway for students and families:

• Strong test scores still open doors. Even at schools that call themselves test-optional, a strong SAT or ACT score almost always helps. Admissions data consistently shows that students who submit scores are admitted at higher rates than those who don't at most selective schools. Opting out of testing isn't the safe play it's sometimes portrayed as.
• The test-optional window may be closing. The trend is moving back toward required testing. Yale, Dartmouth, MIT, UT Austin, and others have already returned to requiring scores. If the UC system follows — even partially — millions of California students will need to be prepared. Getting ahead of this shift now is a significant advantage.
• Math is the biggest differentiator. The professors' letter zeroes in on math specifically, and for good reason. Math scores on the SAT and ACT are harder to boost through short-term cramming than verbal sections. Students who build genuine conceptual understanding — not just test tricks — show a real and measurable edge, both on the test and once they arrive on campus.

The Bottom Line

The debate happening in UC faculty meetings isn't abstract. It reflects a real shift in how colleges are thinking about what it means to be ready for college-level work. Standardized tests, for all their imperfections, measure something real — and that something is increasingly difficult to demonstrate through grades alone.

Students who can show they've mastered the material — not just navigated a lenient grading environment — will have an edge in admissions and in the classroom.

That's the argument those math professors are making. And it's a pretty good argument for why test prep, done right, is one of the best investments a family can make.