“There are three things we do alone: we are born, we die, and if we’re a high school junior headed for college, we take the SATs.”—if you’ve seen the 2000s hit show Gossip Girl, you’ll recognize that quote. Once upon a time, standardized testing was considered a non-negotiable for students hoping to pursue higher education; earning a high SAT score was crucial to be admitted to top universities.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and 1,750 colleges and universities around the United States were forced to adapt to test-optional admissions policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This pause gave universities an opportunity to reevaluate the legitimacy of the SAT, and now amidst the 2026-2027 admissions cycle, 86% of analyzed U.S. colleges and universities remain test-optional post-pandemic—including Santa Clara University.

However, talks about returning to test-mandatory admissions are beginning to resurface. Prestigious universities like Columbia University, Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame have all announced returns to mandatory testing for 2027-2028.

The extent of this return to mandatory testing remains uncertain for now, but before it grows in significance, one thing is clear: Santa Clara University should remain test-optional, because upholding a standardized test built upon racist and discriminatory pretenses would undermine the University’s Jesuit values.

Carl Brigham, author of “A Study of American Intelligence,” established the SAT in 1926, and the motives behind its creation were far from equitable. Brigham was a firm believer in eugenics and an advocate for testing to show racial superiority. He warned that new immigrants were infiltrating the American gene pool, and that without proper screening methods, the education system would deteriorate as a result.

Santa Clara University is an institution that acts on its teachings, with programs like the Ignatian Center, the LEAD First-Gen Scholars Program, the Miller Center for Global Impact, and the Multicultural Center empowering and standing in solidarity with historically marginalized communities.

The University’s commitment to caring for the whole person—and its dedication to social justice—must extend beyond the current students it serves and be reflected in how it evaluates and welcomes incoming students. A closer look at the SAT’s historical origins shows how reinforcing a testing requirement would conflict with these very values.

Although the College Board made specific changes to the test starting in the early 2000s, including altering the original name—the Scholastic Aptitude Test—and removing questions that relied on specific cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, performance gaps between students of different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds persist.

Performance gaps are influenced heavily by socioeconomic opportunity—while students from high-income families can flourish with an abundance of resources and opportunities, students from low and middle-income families often suffer from a lack thereof. These students are less likely to afford private test-preparation resources like tutoring and more likely to attend an underfunded public school with few options to prepare for standardized tests.

Research from Harvard’s Opportunity Insights shows that children from the top 1% of income families are significantly more likely to score 1300+ on the SAT compared to students from the bottom 20%. This reinforces a cycle in which students from privileged backgrounds gain admission to highly ranked universities, meanwhile others face limited opportunities because they were not handed the same resources or advantages.

While the test has discreetly moved away from its original premise of racial hierarchy, echoes of its intentions remain, and it still disadvantages students from marginalized backgrounds.

As universities begin to reimplement test-mandatory policies, Santa Clara University’s best interest is to uphold its Jesuit teachings by remaining test-optional, standing against the SAT’s discriminatory nature and leading an admissions process with integrity and consideration for an applicant as a whole person.