The University of Miami will once again require prospective students to include standardized test scores as part of their undergraduate admissions application beginning with students applying to enter the University in the Fall 2026 semester.
The test score policy was paused in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The University is reinstating the test score policy to provide an additional data point as part of its holistic review process. Therefore, most high school students, with some exceptions, will need to submit an SAT or ACT score with their admissions application.
Along with a student’s high school record and other factors, the SAT or ACT test results help shape the review process of a student’s application.
“While we recognize the value of changing the policy during the pandemic, we have decided to go back to including this information as our data show that standardized test scores can be a predictor of academic success,” said Guillermo “Willy” Prado, interim executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.
“However, these standardized test scores are only a complementary piece of the puzzle,” Prado pointed out. “We consider a wide array of information in our admissions decisions and rely heavily on a student’s high school performance and grade point average, along with community involvement and many other factors.”
The University’s undergraduate admission counselors will still use a holistic process to review each applicant, carefully considering and contextualizing a student’s academic record, extracurricular activities, including community involvement and work, personal statement, and test scores, said Nate Crozier, assistant vice president of undergraduate admissions and marketing.
In reinstating the test score requirement on applications, the University joins other Association of American Universities (AAU) partner institutions, which began requiring test scores on their applications again recently, including Brown University, Dartmouth College, The Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, all Florida public colleges require test scores.
To learn more about the University’s admissions process, visit the Undergraduate Admission website.