The Trump Administration announced on Mar. 27 that several colleges and universities are reinstating SAT and ACT admissions requirements, as well as proposing changes to grading policies in an effort to raise academic standards.
The move is described as a shift towards merit-based admissions and increased transparency in higher education institutions. The administration said these changes aim to restore excellence and rigor within the nation's colleges and universities.
According to the announcement, Brown University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), the University of Texas at Austin, and Yale University reinstated test requirements for admission beginning in Fall 2025. Cornell University and Stanford University will reinstate these requirements for Fall 2026, while Princeton University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Vanderbilt University plan to do so by Fall 2027.
Additionally, a report from Harvard revealed that grade inflation peaked with over 60% of undergraduate grades being A’s during the 2024-25 academic year. In response, Harvard has proposed limiting A grades in each class to no more than 20% of enrolled students plus four additional A’s. The university is also developing a system that would rank students by their course percentile standing instead of using grade point average (GPA) when determining university honors.
Dozens of other top universities have ended test-optional admissions policies. These include Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, UPenn, Yale, Caltech, Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, UT Austin, UT Knoxville, UW Madison—as well as all public universities in Georgia and Florida. Auburn University and the University of Alabama System are also ending test-optional admissions.
Officials said these policy changes represent substantial shifts for institutions such as Harvard Princeton Yale Cornell Johns Hopkins Stanford—and Yale—in their admissions processes for the class entering in 2029.
