UC Faculty Say Dropping the SAT Created a STEM Readiness Crisis. Now They Want It Back

Svetlana Jitomirskaya, UC Berkeley Professor of Mathematics

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A Wall Street Journal op-ed about the University of California’s SAT ban sparked a national conversation about college admissions, academic standards and whether students are arriving on campus ready for rigorous STEM coursework.

In this episode, Matt speaks with Svetlana Jitomirskaya, professor of mathematics at UC Berkeley and one of the faculty members behind an open letter calling on the University of California system to reinstate standardized testing. More than 1,500 faculty members have signed on, warning that test-blind admissions have masked severe preparation gaps among incoming students.

But this conversation is not really about one test. It’s about what happens when high school grades no longer signal readiness, when universities lose an objective baseline for admissions, and when students are placed into STEM programs without the math foundation they need to succeed.

Svetlana argues that removing the SAT was supposed to expand access, but in practice may be hurting the very students it was meant to help. Without a clear measure of readiness, students from underprepared K-12 systems can arrive at elite universities only to face remedial math, repeated calculus failures, major changes or the collapse of a STEM dream they were told they were ready to pursue.

For educators, employers and policymakers, the stakes are bigger than the SAT. This is a conversation about standards, equity, accountability and the future STEM talent pipeline.

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