Tyrone Callahan, assistant chair for the department of finance and business economics at Marshall School of Business, said if USC admissions officers were to pick one of two students — one who locks themselves in the library and another who starts a tutoring program and becomes the leader of a club — they would choose the second student. This point was brought up in a larger discussion about the role standardized tests play in determining student outcomes.

USC no longer requires standardized test scores for applicants. The change was made in 2020 when Timothy Brunold, now the interim vice president for enrollment management, stated that the University would continue its holistic admission process. The Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, which USC rejected in October, also called for requiring standardized testing in undergraduate admissions. 

Speak Free USC — a program designed by the USC Open Dialogue Project — hosted the panel Thursday afternoon to discuss the role of standardized tests in admissions. The event in Mudd Hall was the latest in the Speak Free USC series, which previously hosted a discussion on the compact after the University refused to sign the agreement from the Trump administration. 

The four-person panel consisted of faculty members with a range of experience in the admissions process, moderated by Neeraj Sood, the founding director of the USC Open Dialogue Project.

Morgan Polikoff, a professor of education, discussed the recent revelations brought forth from a Nov. 6 report from UC San Diego which found that many of their admitted students require remedial courses in first to eighth grade math. Polikoff said test scores add substantial predictive power beyond grades, and that grade inflation can be mitigated by requiring standardized test scores. 

“[UC San Diego is] unable to identify that large numbers of students are having to do remedial education. And, I think that also, tests can be used to identify high-performing, low-income students who might not otherwise be identified,” Polikoff said. 

Callahan said he was in favor of mandatory testing despite the issues associated with it, including not being holistic. He conceded that he knows less about talent-based majors in performing arts and athletics. 

“Tests play a lesser role, often, in those contexts than in those academic disciplines. I also think it’s different in graduate versus undergraduate [studies],” Callahan said. “In undergraduate, we have professional admission staff who are well educated and able to apply these things contextually and understand what biases are built into different things. It’s what their profession is about.” 

Leana Golubchik, a professor of electrical and computer engineering as well as computer science at Viterbi School of Engineering, said the goal of admissions is to bring in students who will succeed academically and professionally at USC.

“I’d like to see students who will take advantage of all we have to offer and be able to leave here with fundamentals set up for a long career,” Golubchik said. “I also think that we should look at both cognitive and non-cognitive characteristics … able to work independently, resilience and have skills to manage [a] high work load.”

Julie Posselt, a professor of education and the author of “Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Diversity, and Faculty Gatekeeping,” said the responsibility of determining the goal of standardized testing is ultimately a decision for the admissions staff. 

Posselt was part of a White House summit in 2023, after the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina decisions, which ended the use of race-based affirmative action in college admissions. She said the general consensus was that the system needed some time to balance out after the coronavirus pandemic; the negative impacts of COVID-19 were echoed by Polikoff. 

“We certainly acknowledge the impact of COVID. COVID had a negative effect all across the performance distribution, but especially for those who are already behind,” Polikoff said. “Let’s revisit this conversation in five years.”

In an interview with the Daily Trojan, Polikoff said he was surprised that he was in the majority within the panel on enforcing standardized testing in admissions. 

“It was good to hear differences of opinion,” Polikoff said. “Julie and I know each other very well, and we’ve had these discussions before.” 

Raghav Sinha, a sophomore majoring in legal studies, attended the panel and said the event went well, but that there was more to discuss. 

“A lot of the conversation was mainly about statistics,” Sinha said. “I feel like there’s a broader discussion about other options in admissions, rather than just going straight [to] test optional or test mandatory.” 

Sood said his goal for the Open Dialogue Project is to embody the principles of free expression, open discourse and academic freedom. After the event, he said that students should be encouraged to share their ideas and be exposed to new ones.

“Exposing yourself to different ideas so that you can change your mind on some things [is] how growth happens,” Sood said. “If you stick with the same ideas, then you’re not growing.”