Stanford University reinstates ACT/SAT requirements for admission

Stanford University is the latest to join Harvard University, Caltech, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, in reinstating the ACT/SAT scores requirements for the admission process.

Study in US: The latest elite college to reinstate the standardized test requirement for admissions in the US is Stanford University. It followed other prominent institutes including Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard and California Institute of Technology. The reinstatement process was started with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2022.

"Stanford will resume requiring either the SAT or the ACT for undergraduate admission, beginning with students applying in fall 2025 for admission to the Class of 2030. Stanford will remain test-optional for students applying in fall 2024 for admission to the Class of 2029," reads the Stanford University statement.

Similar to other colleges, Stanford stopped this requirement in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and starting it now with students applying in the fall 2025 for admission to the Class of 2030. The university said that the students will have enough lead time to plan and prepare for the testing and the SAT and ACT scores as it will be applicable for fall 2025.

Academic potential is primary criterion for admission at Stanford University

The university said that the SAT/ACT scores represent only one part of the holistic review of the applications submitted for admission. Academic potential is the key criterion for admission to Stanford University.

A review by the faculty Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid has confirmed that performance on standardised tests is an important predictor of academic performance at Stanford.

12 doctoral students get Research Opportunity awards

The Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE) awarded twelve Stanford doctoral students with the Diversity Dissertation Research Opportunity (DDRO) awards.

These awards fund annually to applicants whose doctoral dissertation research engages aspects of ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, diversity, broadly defined to include culture, socioeconomic background, race, and life experience. The students who received the 2024 DDRO awards include - Noor Amr, Anthropology, School of Humanities and Sciences, Camille DeJarnett, Political Science, School of Humanities and Sciences, Paula Gaither, Classics, School of Humanities and Sciences, Marina Johnson, Theater and Performance Studies, School of Humanities and Sciences, Rita Kamani-Renedo, Graduate School of Education, Leslie Luqueño, Graduate School of Education, Tamar “Tamri” Matiashvili, Economics, School of Humanities and Sciences, Lloyd May, Music, School of Humanities and Sciences, Westley Montgomery, Theater and Performance Studies, School of Humanities and Sciences, Kenisha Puckett, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, School of Medicine, Kia Turner, Graduate School of Education, and Emma Williams-Baron, Sociology, School of Humanities and Sciences.

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