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The University of Texas at Austin is reinstating its standardized testing requirement for admission, beginning with the fall 2025 semester, officials announced Monday.
Like most U.S. institutions, UT Austin has been test-optional since the COVID-19 pandemic started in spring 2020, shutting down many standardized testing sites.
“Our goals are to attract the best and brightest students and to make sure every student is successful once they are here,” President Jay Hartzell said in a statement. “Standardized scores combined with high school GPA support this goal by improving early identification of students who demonstrated the greatest academic achievement, the most potential, and those who can most benefit from support through our student success programs.”
He also noted that given the “abundance of high school GPAs surrounding 4.0,” an SAT or ACT score serves as “a proven differentiator that is in each student’s and the University’s best interest.”
In the announcement, the university cited its own research showing that higher test scores correlate with better academic performance. Of 9,217 first-year students enrolled in 2023, those who “opted in” to have their scores considered—a group with a median SAT score of 1420—had an average GPA of 0.86 points higher their first semester than those who didn’t choose to have their scores included.
UT Austin is the latest selective institution to announce a change to its testing policy in recent weeks. Dartmouth College and Brown University have also reinstated testing requirements; Yale University adopted a “test-flexible” policy, mandating applicants submit test scores while broadening the list of acceptable exams beyond the SAT and ACT. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan as well as Cornell and Vanderbilt Universities have vowed to extend their test-optional policies.
