Colleges all over the country have felt the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. To help applicants of the Class of 2021, many colleges are not requiring students to have taken the ACT or SAT.

Many colleges, some even as prestigious as Harvard and Cornell, are waiving the requirement for students to have taken the ACT or the SAT. They understand that most schools have gone exclusively online and understand that it would be difficult for students to take these standardized tests. Although, while many colleges are waiving it for the Class of 2021, some are only waiving it for the class of 2022.

Karen Richardson, the Dean of Admissions at Princeton University, said in an interview with the New York Times, “While our policy has long been that SAT subject tests are recommended but not required, now seems the appropriate time to reiterate that applicants who do not submit subject tests will not be disadvantaged in our process. SAT or ACT test scores are only one part of our holistic review.” Franklin Dela Rosa, senior, said, “I feel like they are going to be more selective by looking at grades more, so there is less to compensate for a bad grade. I that it all depends on your grades now.

Some students who do not do well on standardized tests but have good grades will be happy with this news, as they can now get more attention from colleges without having to take a test that they will not do well on. “I think that if you can take advantage of it, do it,” said Dela Rosa.

Colleges taking away the requirement has led to a new surge in the argument that standardized testing is not a good measure for how good a student is. The University of California system is now trying to phase out the requirement for standardized tests by 2024.

Due to the second large wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people may be tight on money right now. Dela Rosa thinks that with how tight money is for some people, that more students might want to start in community college. “I think that it is better right now, because it is less complicated at it is cheaper. I think that even though it isn’t university, it is still a college level class and you can transfer to a university later on at a better financial time.