As of October 2026. Every number below is sourced; the list is at the end.
Nobody knows yet. Anyone who tells you they know is guessing. As of October 2026, every UC campus is test-blind. It does not look at SAT or ACT scores at all. The class of 2027 — this year's seniors, the ones filing their UC applications between October 1 and November 30, 2026 — will send none. UC puts it plainly: students applying by November 30, 2026, for fall 2027 admission "will not be required to submit SAT or ACT scores." But UC's Academic Senate has opened the question again. Its admissions board owes a report on February 12, 2027. The Regents get the advice by June 2027.
What UC has actually said
UC picks its words with care. It "has not determined whether admissions requirements for fall 2028, or any future admissions cycle, will change." Read that twice. It is not a promise to stay test-blind. It is a door left open.
The group doing the work is BOARS. That is the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools. In a letter dated August 11, 2026, the Senate's Academic Council told BOARS to weigh "the potential advantages and disadvantages of using standardized test scores in UC undergraduate admissions." BOARS owes a report, and a call on what UC should do. Nobody asks a board to weigh both sides when the answer is set. I wrote about UC's test-free years in Inside Higher Ed in January 2026. My read has not changed. The evidence is messier than the rule.
Nobody at UC has decided anything yet.
The comfortable belief
Here is what I hear most from parents in Orange County. Scores are over, so we can skip them. That belief rests on one system. Your kid is not applying to one system.
Our test-policy database holds 1,396 four-year colleges that state a test rule. Of those, 101 want scores and 1,263 are test-optional. Only 32 skip them. Every UC and CSU campus sits in that small group. So the schools that ignore scores are the odd ones out.
Twenty-three well-known colleges went the other way. They read their own results and brought the rule back. Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Caltech, UT Austin, and Cornell are all on that list.
Test-optional does not mean scores play no part. Look at Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. Of the kids who applied, 24% sent a score. Of the kids who got in, 50% had. At USC it was 36% who applied and 51% who got in. A score is not a ticket. It just gets read when it is there.
What this means for a 10th grader right now
A sophomore today is the class of 2029. They file in fall 2028, for fall 2029 admission. That is well past UC's call. So there is time to get ready. But the bigger reason has nothing to do with UC.
Look at your kid's list. Does it hold a private college? An out-of-state public? A merit award? Then someone on that list reads scores today. Prep once, for the whole SAT or ACT. Then you are set, whichever way the news goes. Skip it, and you bet the whole list on one system's pending vote.
Prepare for the test you can control.
The move
This month, pick the exam. Have your sophomore sit one full-length SAT and one full-length ACT. Then prep for the whole test, not one part, for six to twelve weeks before the real sitting. We give the mock SAT and ACT free. See which one fits your kid before you spend a dollar: prepgurus.com/frequently-asked-questions, or call 949.229.5359.
Questions parents ask
Does my kid need to send SAT or ACT scores to a UC this year?
No. Every UC campus is test-blind as of October 2026. The class of 2027 — this year's seniors, filing between October 1 and November 30, 2026 — will not send scores at all.
When will UC decide whether to bring the SAT or ACT back?
BOARS, UC's admissions board, owes a report on February 12, 2027, and recommendations go to the Regents by June 2027. UC says it has not determined whether requirements for fall 2028 or any later cycle will change.
If the UCs ignore scores, why should my sophomore prepare at all?
Because the rest of the list reads them. Of the 1,396 four-year colleges in our database reporting a policy, 101 require scores and 1,263 are test-optional; only 32 do not consider them.
Written by Nick Standlea, founder of Test Prep Gurus. Updated October 2026.
Sources
- University of California, "Statement from UC Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu on BOARS undergraduate admissions review" (July 22, 2026) — states the February 12, 2027 report deadline, recommendations to the Regents no later than June 2027, and the fall 2028 language quoted above — https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/statement-uc-academic-senate-chair-ahmet-palazoglu-boars-undergraduate-admissions-review
- UC Academic Senate, Academic Council charges to BOARS on standardized testing and the A-G framework, August 11, 2026 (the letter quoted above) — https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-to-boars-charges-on-undergraduate-admissions.pdf
- Nick Standlea, "UC's test-free experiment isn't going well," Inside Higher Ed, January 5, 2026 — https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2026/01/05/ucs-test-free-experiment-isnt-going-well-opinion
- High School Reach — college test-score policies, reinstaters, and submitter shares — https://highschoolreach.com/test-scores
- Test Prep Gurus — free diagnostic ACT and SAT, program structure — https://www.prepgurus.com/frequently-asked-questions