UC extends waiving SAT, ACT tests for 2023 and 2024 applicants
New policy increases equitable access to higher education and eases stress on high schoolers
The University of Cincinnati will extend its test-optional admissions policy for an additional two-year period as a result of significant disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Over the past two years, the decision to move to test optional has increased access to University of Cincinnati, directly impacting equity, inclusion and opportunities for students.
The move means that students entering UC in 2023 and 2024 will not be required to submit standardized test scores from the ACT or SAT to gain admission to the vast majority of programs. Though a few programs will still require a standardized test — namely, the College of Nursing's Direct-Admit BSN program — most applicants will be able to choose whether or not to submit scores to be considered as part of UC’s new holistic admissions review model.
“This is the direction we are going in as a nation,” says Jack Miner, UC’s vice provost for enrollment management.
Miner says research indicates universities that have implemented test-optional policies in recent years are not seeing an academic slide, and those same universities are gaining a more diverse student body. This is also the case at UC, which has seen a record increase in diversity for all populations as well as first-generation students.
“Schools that have gone in this direction have started seeing an increase in diversity both in applications and enrollment,” says Miner. “They are enrolling more underrepresented minority students as well as more economically diverse students.”
This direction is in line with all other Ohio public universities that have also kept the test optional practices for application review.
“Some students may decide their application is stronger without test scores while others will benefit from sending the exam; either way, this decision as a university affords students the highest possibility of being successful in the college admissions process,” says Yosmeriz Roman, PhD, assistant vice provost for admissions at UC.
The university will vote again in two years to make determinations of whether to keep the test-optional practice in the years to come.
Learn more about UC's test-optional policy and read FAQs.
Featured image at top by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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