Throughout 2020, the California State University system, which includes SF State, has seen massive upheavals in its function and structure. This has included the transition to virtual instruction, the selection of a new chancellor, and most recently in a deadline extension for 2020-2021 applicants to Dec.15.
Another change that will impact prospective students was CSU’s decision this spring to temporarily suspend the standardized testing requirement for the fall 2021, winter 2022 and spring 2022 admission cycles.
Aside from omitting SAT/ACT test scores, the application process will be the same as before. The CSU system states that they are prepared to exercise flexibility and accommodation when dealing with admission requirements.
“This is really just to accommodate for the lack of SAT and ACT administrations, so it’s good because the whole CSU and many other schools had to really make adjustments to the way admission is determined,” said Maria Martinez, SF State’s associate VP of enrollment management.
All CSUs will continue to require applicants to be of high school graduate or equivalent, complete the 15-unit comprehensive “a-g” pattern of college preparatory courses, and earn a qualifying “a-g” grade point average of at least 2.5.
Lowell High School senior Antonio Camacho, who has been anxious of such tests since the summer of his junior year, explains how the system not taking into account standardized testing scores has been a weight lifted off his shoulders.
“We’re adapting to this new environment, way of living and taking classes online and doing everything online. It’s just stressful even though it probably doesn’t seem like it is, but not worrying about having to take that SAT or ACT to try and get accepted into colleges is definitely a stress reliever,” said Camacho.
With the average price of an online or in-person SAT/ACT course ranging from $100-$1800, and one-on-one tutors charging around $40-200 per hour, many students, like Lola Ibragimova, feel as if their money and efforts were for nothing.
“I took a few SAT prep courses and they were pretty costly, they were kind of expensive. And now you learn everything is going to be dependent off of your grades and your SAT’s don’t even matter anymore is kind of disappointing,” said Ibragimova, a junior at Lowell High School.
Camacho explains that despite some peers being frustrated that the new graduating class did not have to take any form of standardized testing for college admissions, in retrospect, this was the one of the better outcomes for the year they experienced.
“They were just a little like triggered at the fact that they’re not using those tests for admission into CSU and stuff, but at the same time they did view the fact of what we’re going through right now,” said Camacho. “For everyone else that is actually being affected by this [pandemic], they’re realizing how stressful that would have been if it would have not been canceled”.
The CSU system has yet to announce if they will extend this temporary suspension on standardized tests for admissions to fall 2022.
