ATLANTA – Georgia public universities will once again start requiring standardized test scores for enrollment in 2022.
The University System of Georgia announced Wednesday it will resume requiring test scores beginning with students seeking admission for Spring 2022.
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Generally, the minimum test scores required for admission are a 920 on the SAT test or a 17 on the ACT test. However, schools with selective admissions policies such as Georgia Tech can require higher scores.
The average Georgia student scores 21.4 on the ACT and around 1050 on the SAT.
Georgia’s public universities and colleges didn’t require tests for admissions in spring, summer and fall of 2021 because the COVID-19 pandemic led to many canceled test dates. The schools did consider scores if an applicant submitted them.
Many other schools, including a number of private institutions in Georgia, have announced they won’t require test scores for fall of 2022. Some anti-testing advocates had hoped the pandemic would lead to abandonment of SAT and ACT tests
“Schools that waived ACT/SAT score requirements during the pandemic generally saw more applicants, better academically qualified academics, and more diversity of all sorts,” Bob Schaeffer, executive director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, or FairTest, said last month. “Now, most are extending those policies for at least another year.”
Schaeffer cites data showing children from affluent households have an unfair advantage on the tests.
Test scores are required at all the schools classified as universities except Middle Georgia State University. Scores are also not required for Atlanta Metropolitan State College, College of Coastal Georgia, East Georgia State, Georgia Gwinnett College, Georgia Highland College, Gordon State College and South Georgia State College. Test scores are also not required for admission to Georgia Southern University’s Liberty campus and Georgia State University’s Perimeter College.
Two state colleges, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Dalton State College also require tests, but seek lower scores than the university minimum.