University of Utah indefinitely pauses SAT and ACT admissions requirements

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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah is pausing SAT and ACT admissions requirements indefinitely. The school is part of a growing number of colleges making the tests optional.

The U has been test-optional for two years now. This week the board of trustees chose to extend the policy indefinitely.

“When we realized that we weren’t seeing a dropoff in the academic performance of the entering classes, we decided to continue being test-optional,” said Steve Robinson, the Senior Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management at the U.

The change comes as part of a larger movement across the country. FairTest reports almost 2,000 colleges in the U.S. no longer require test scores for admission applications.

That list includes other Utah universities like Brigham Young University and Utah State University.

“As it turns out, [for] the University of Utah’s application pool, high school grade point average is a better indicator for success than the score on an ACT or SAT test,” said Robinson.

Although it’s no longer a requirement, Robinson said students can still submit their test scores if they feel it will help them get in.

“If you have a student who’s kind of on the bubble, they have a GPA that’s maybe not as high as they would have liked it to have been but they have a very strong test score. In those circumstances, we always suggest that the student go ahead and submit the test score,” said Robinson. 

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