What did test-optional policy make harder to see?
WSJ is covering a real SAT policy debate. This tracker uses CollegeData.fyi source layers to separate what changed in public testing visibility from what coarse UC outcome measures show so far.
Undergraduate UC campuses in the outcome watchlist.
Retention, completion, and transfer-out come from ipeds_facts.
High baseline retention leaves limited room for visible shock.
Current UC CDS serving rows with no reported SAT/ACT score bands.
The primary signal is observability: when schools stop requiring or collecting scores, public score reporting gets thinner. UC first-year retention does not show an obvious institution-level collapse, but retention is coarse, ceiling-limited, and confounded by the pandemic era. Completion and transfer-out remain useful watchlist measures, but they are too lagged to fully evaluate post-2020 cohorts.
What is still visible in CDS testing rows?
This table uses current school_browser_rows values only. It does not infer formal policy from submit rates, and it treats UC missingness as an observability result rather than as a score result.
| School | Panel | CDS year | SAT submit | ACT submit | SAT 25/50/75 | ACT 25/50/75 | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California, Berkeley | UC | 2025-26 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California, Davis | UC | 2024-25 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California, Irvine | UC | 2024-25 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California, Los Angeles | UC | 2025-26 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California-Merced | UC | 2024-25 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California-Riverside | UC | 2025-26 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California, San Diego | UC | 2024-25 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California, Santa Barbara | UC | 2025-26 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| University of California-Santa Cruz | UC | 2024-25 | n/a | n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | n/a / n/a / n/a | Not reported | CDS row exists, but SAT/ACT submit rates and bands are not reported in the serving row. |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | News comparison | 2024-25 | 83% | 29% | 1,520 / 1,550 / 1,570 | 34 / 35 / 36 | Bands reported | CDS reports score bands in the current serving row. |
| Dartmouth College | News comparison | 2025-26 | 69% | 33% | 1,440 / 1,520 / 1,550 | 32 / 34 / 35 | Bands reported | CDS reports score bands in the current serving row. |
| Yale University | News comparison | 2025-26 | 71% | 27% | 1,470 / 1,530 / 1,560 | 33 / 34 / 35 | Bands reported | CDS reports score bands in the current serving row. |
Retention is basically flat, but it is a weak instrument.
First-year retention is the fastest public outcome check available in IPEDS. It is also institution-level, high-ceiling data. Flat retention is useful evidence against a broad retention shock, not proof that classroom preparedness concerns are false.
| UC campus | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California, Berkeley | 97% | 96% | 96% | 96% | 97% | 97% | 0 pts |
| University of California, Davis | 92% | 93% | 91% | 92% | 93% | 93% | +1 pts |
| University of California, Irvine | 94% | 94% | 93% | 91% | 94% | 94% | 0 pts |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 97% | 96% | 97% | 97% | 97% | 97% | 0 pts |
| University of California-Merced | 85% | 86% | 79% | 82% | 83% | 82% | -3 pts |
| University of California-Riverside | 90% | 91% | 88% | 87% | 88% | 88% | -2 pts |
| University of California, San Diego | 93% | 94% | 95% | 93% | 94% | 94% | +1 pts |
| University of California, Santa Barbara | 92% | 91% | 91% | 92% | 92% | 93% | +1 pts |
| University of California-Santa Cruz | 89% | 85% | 89% | 88% | 90% | 88% | -1 pts |
Completion data is still mostly a baseline.
Six-year graduation and transfer-out are worth tracking, but in June 2026 they are still too lagged to cleanly evaluate mature post-2020 test-blind cohorts. Treat these as baseline context and refresh them when new IPEDS vintages land.
| UC campus | 2024 retention | 2024 six-year grad | 2024 transfer-out | Scorecard context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California, Berkeley | 97% | 93% | n/a | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 97%, grad 93%, transfer-out 0.0% |
| University of California, Davis | 93% | 86% | 5% | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 93%, grad 86%, transfer-out 4.9% |
| University of California, Irvine | 94% | 87% | 5% | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 94%, grad 87%, transfer-out 4.6% |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 97% | 93% | 3% | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 97%, grad 93%, transfer-out 3.4% |
| University of California-Merced | 82% | 69% | 11% | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 82%, grad 69%, transfer-out 11% |
| University of California-Riverside | 88% | 76% | 9% | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 88%, grad 76%, transfer-out 9.4% |
| University of California, San Diego | 94% | 86% | 4% | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 94%, grad 86%, transfer-out 3.7% |
| University of California, Santa Barbara | 93% | 83% | n/a | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 93%, grad 83%, transfer-out 0.0% |
| University of California-Santa Cruz | 88% | 75% | 10% | Scorecard 2022-23: retention 88%, grad 75%, transfer-out 9.7% |
- Formal test-policy labels require separately sourced URLs and verification dates.
- UC is a highly selected public system, not the national applicant pool.
- IPEDS retention is not course-level math readiness, DFW rates, GPA, or STEM persistence.
- COVID disruption and test-policy changes overlap, so this is descriptive, not causal.
The page and API use the same assembled dataset. Generated Jun 3, 2026 from public CollegeData.fyi tables.
Latest IPEDS release: 2024-25 provisional (2026-03-01).