As Peer Schools Ditch Test-Optional, FAS Dean Says Harvard Is in No Rush

As its Ivy League peers return to requiring standardized testing, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra said Harvard is still “in the midst of analyzing” the effectiveness of its test-optional admission policy.

“We will make a decision that is best for Harvard at a time that’s best for Harvard,” Hoekstra said in a Friday interview.

Hoekstra’s comments indicate that Harvard is in no rush to end its current test-optional admissions practices, even as Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown have all announced they will return to requiring standardized test scores.

Prospective Harvard applicants will not be required to submit test scores until at least 2026, but Harvard has yet to say whether or not the policy will continue beyond then.

After the Supreme Court ruled that Harvard College’s race-conscious admissions practices were unconstitutional in June 2023, many universities — including Harvard — began to reevaluate their admissions practices. Meanwhile, highly-publicized research on the predictive power of the SAT and ACT has pushed colleges to mandate test scores once again.

At Harvard — which has been shaken by crises that culminated in the January resignation of its former president, Claudine Gay — the admissions conversation has quietly continued. However, those decisions appear to have taken a backseat as the University wrestles with leadership turnover and unrelenting public criticism.

Hoekstra said on Friday that she has been meeting with various groups of faculty over the last few months to discuss Harvard admissions — marking the continuation of a project that began under Gay in the fall.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Gay launched an effort to evaluate the admissions process — and to answer looming questions about its future. In an October interview with The Crimson, Gay said no admissions policy was off limits as the University conducted an internal review of its admissions practices.

As part of the initiative, Gay asked Hoekstra to work with her on “gathering data that can help inform future approaches by our admissions office,” Gay told the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication, in October.

Since then, Hoekstra said she has sought “faculty input to better understand how diversity on all of its axes contributes to our dynamic Harvard classrooms.” This includes conversations with the Standing Committee on Undergraduate Educational Policy, a 24-member committee tasked with overseeing the Harvard College curriculum.

The switch to test-optional — adopted by many American universities, including all eight Ivy League schools — occurred amidst the Covid-19 pandemic when students were unable to take in-person SAT and ACT exams. The fact that three Ivy League schools have reinstated testing requirements, though, indicates that universities are reconsidering the potential for scores to help maintain diversity within student bodies.

On Friday, Hoekstra pointed to the potential benefits of requiring applicants to submit test scores. She highlighted research by economists — including Harvard professors Raj Chetty and David J. Deming — that suggests higher test scores are correlated with future success among students who attend selective universities.

Test score data, Hoekstra added, “may be especially useful in light of the general trend of grade inflation.”

However, Hoekstra also emphasized that test scores are only one part of a student’s files, noting that Harvard uses a holistic approach to admissions.

Though her work has continued for some time, Hoekstra suggested an announcement about the future of test-optional admissions at Harvard was not imminent.

“We will continue to look at the data and wait till the data tells us what next steps” to take, she said.

—Staff writer Tilly R. Robinson can be reached at tilly.robinson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tillyrobin.

—Staff writer Neil H. Shah can be reached at neil.shah@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @neilhshah15.