A quiet rebellion inside one of the country's most prestigious university systems is teaching families exactly what I've been saying for years.

There's a quiet rebellion happening inside one of the most prestigious public university systems in the country, and every family with a college-bound student should be paying attention. Because the lesson coming out of it is one I've been telling my families for years: a test score is not your enemy. In a lot of cases, it's your best friend.

What's actually happening

In a recent piece for The Atlantic (Idrees Kahloon, June 9, 2026), we learned that faculty across the University of California system are openly demanding that the UC reconsider standardized testing in admissions. This started when veteran Berkeley math professors noticed something alarming: students were showing up to calculus unable to handle basic algebra. One professor described the bottom quarter of her class as being "in freefall." Another said she had to stop and re-teach fractions before she could teach calculus at all.

Five Berkeley professors wrote an open letter arguing that, at minimum, STEM applicants should once again have to submit test scores. As of the article's publication, more than 1,400 professors and lecturers had co-signed it. That's not a fringe complaint. That's a faculty revolt.

The breaking point came after UC San Diego released a report finding that roughly one in twelve incoming students struggled with middle-school-level math. Here's the statistic that should stop every parent cold: more than a quarter of the students who landed in UCSD's remedial math course had earned a 4.0 GPA in high school math. A perfect transcript that did not reflect the actual skill.

Why I agree — and why this matters for your family

I'll say it plainly: I think we need standardized test scores back, and the UC faculty are right to demand them. Here's my reasoning as a counselor who sits across the table from real students every week.

The transcript alone can no longer be trusted. Grade inflation has hollowed out the meaning of a strong GPA. When a 4.0 in math can coexist with the inability to solve a linear equation, the GPA has stopped doing its job. A proctored, standardized exam is one of the only signals left that can't be quietly inflated, padded, or — increasingly — outsourced.

AI has changed the game for the rest of the application. Essays can now be polished, rewritten, or essentially generated by artificial intelligence. Extracurricular lists reward families who know how to package a résumé. Of all the pieces in an application, the test sat under controlled conditions is the one that's hardest to game. As one Berkeley professor put it, without it, admissions risks becoming a "random draw out of a black box."

Tests can lift up the students who deserve it. This is the part critics often miss. The UC's own 227-page faculty task force concluded back in 2020 that test scores predicted college performance — GPA and graduation rates — better than high-school GPA alone, and that this held true for disadvantaged students too. When MIT brought testing back in 2022, it specifically said scores helped them find talented, low-income students who had no other way to prove they were ready. A great score from a struggling high school is a megaphone for a kid who would otherwise be overlooked.

The market has already spoken. MIT reinstated testing in 2022. Harvard followed in 2024, Stanford in 2025, and Yale just last month. The UC is now the outlier, not the trendsetter.

The honest counterpoint

I won't pretend this is one-sided, because good counseling never is. The Atlantic piece is clear that abandoning the tests did not blow up the UC system the way either side predicted. The racial makeup of the student body barely changed, and overall graduation rates held steady. Critics also make a fair point: the pandemic devastated math learning nationally — NAEP scores show 45% of 12th graders now testing "below basic" — and the SAT can't fix that decline. It can only measure it.

A thermometer doesn't cure the fever, yet you'd never want a doctor to throw it away. Right now, the UC is treating students without taking their temperature — and then acting surprised when calculus class falls apart.

What this means for you, practically

Prepare for the test as if it's coming back — because it is. The momentum is unmistakable, and the worst position to be in is unprepared when the requirement returns.
A strong score is leverage, not a burden. Even at test-optional schools, a good score strengthens your file. Submit when it helps you.
Don't let a soft transcript lull you into a false sense of readiness. If you're heading into a STEM major, your actual math fluency matters more than your report card. We'd rather find the gap now than have you discover it in a Berkeley lecture hall.
Build genuine skill, not just an application. AI can write your essay. It can't take your calculus exam for you in week three of college.

The students who'll win the next few years are the ones who treat the test as proof of real preparation — not a hoop to jump through. That's the work we do at Clearing. We help students walk into admissions and into freshman year actually ready.

Thinking about how testing fits into your college plan? That's exactly the conversation we love to have. Reach out to Clearing College Bound Counseling — let's build a plan that's ready for whatever admissions does next.

Source: Idrees Kahloon, "Actually, the SAT Was Necessary After All," The Atlantic, June 9, 2026.