Students applying to UK for the next three years will not need to submit ACT, SAT scores
Students applying to the University of Kentucky will not need to submit a standardized test score for at least the next few years, extending a pandemic-related change meant to assist high school students who have faced test cancellations and general disruptions to their education.
After much debate Monday afternoon, members of the university’s faculty senate voted to extend a pilot program for the university’s test-optional policy — which is accompanied by ongoing analysis of how these students perform once they get to college. According to the approved proposal, students who are applying through the 2024-25 school year will not need to submit an ACT or SAT score with their application.
Previously the test-optional policy was only extended to students arriving on campus for the 2021-22 school year. But admissions officials at UK are looking to extend the test-optional pilot program to gain more data and examine whether the policy could one day be permanent.
Christine Harper, UK’s chief enrollment officer, told the faculty senate that the university would be gathering data on how a student’s high school classes were taught due to the pandemic, as well as data on how those students perform once in college.
Merit-based scholarships can be earned with or without a test score, but certain selective majors or departments may require a test score or other prerequisites, university admissions information shows. Harper also said that at any time selective colleges within the university may also opt-out of the program.
Even before the pandemic, colleges and universities across the state and country have been moving away from requiring applying students to submit standardized test scores. Transylvania University, for example, has been test-optional since 2016, while many state schools have made the shift during the pandemic. UK’s initial move to the test-optional policy last fall was built on growing data that high school GPA is the best indicator of how well a student will perform once they get to college.
“We ran our data here at the University of Kentucky, and it paired very well with the national data — finding that GPA is a better indication of student success and retention than test score,” Harper said in a release last fall. “So, based on that, we felt very comfortable moving to a test-optional process.”
Harper submitted the proposal to extend the test-optional policy and told the senate that approving sooner would help applying students and their high school college counselors plan for the future.
“By approving now, we will be able to announce our intentions early to prospective students, and in doing so will demonstrate UK’s support for an accessible option for students dealing with a substantial number of external forces (access to testing, college going support, family financial strain) resulting from the pandemic,” Harper wrote in the proposal. “Students who have a test score will still be considered, as well as those without test score, using data analysis and college input, this summer and fall.”
Some faculty senators expressed concern that the move to a longer term test-optional pilot was being pushed forward without enough feedback from the larger body of faculty. Two amendments to the proposal, including one that would have shortened the program by a year, were both voted down and the proposal passed with 52 voting in favor, one voting against and five abstentions.
Additionally, “Dead Week” — the last week of every semester prior to the all-important Finals Week — will be renamed to “Prep Week,” as faculty senators unanimously approved a measure to rename the week generally meant to give students time to prepare for their end-of-semester exams. The now-approved proposal was requested in honor of those who may have lost loved ones to suicide and to give a more accurate description for the week’s purpose: prepping for finals.