The University of Alabama just announced that it is shifting to a test-required policy.

Last year, we saw several selective schools adopt this policy, including UT - Austin. Auburn has moved toward test-preferred and, eventually, test-required.

https://www.al.com/news/2025/12/university-of-alabama-system-campuses-announce-major-college-admissions-change.html

We have to wonder how much longer a school like TAMU, with its selectivity, will continue to hold onto its test-positive policy as its application numbers keep growing.

At first I thought A&M must have some DEI motives for remaining test optional, but now I suspect it may be because it allows them to report artificially high SAT averages when the lowest applicant scores are never reported and included in the calculation.

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We have to wonder how much longer a school like TAMU, with its selectivity, will continue to hold onto its test-positive policy as its application numbers keep growing.

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I am sure you read about the UC-San Diego issues, with lots of kids with perfect math scores in high school not able to test out at even a remedial level once in college.

Grade inflation in high schools has reached absurd levels all over the country, so I do hope the SAT/ACT requirement is made mandatory once again as teachers do not want to separate the wheat from the chaff.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annaesakismith/2025/12/11/uc-san-diego-finds-one-in-eight-freshmen-lack-high-school-math-skills/

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A quarter of students in remedial math got perfect high school scores

"The elimination of standardized testing resulted in more reliance in high school grades even though the (academic group's) report notes the worrisome trend of grade inflation in many schools that had already been substantial in 2020," the workgroup report said.

Indeed, in 2024 more than 25% of the students placed into UCSD's lowest math course had received a 4.0 grade point average in high-school math.

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