More Fresno Kids Getting Into UC Schools as State Debates Bringing Back SAT Requirement

McLane High more than doubled the number of students it sent to University of California schools in just one year — from 33 in 2024 to 80 in 2025. Across Fresno Unified, UC admission rates climbed from 78% to 82% over the last four years, even as the district has historically struggled academically.

But the wins come with a catch: state lawmakers are now debating whether to force the UC system to bring back the SAT requirement it dropped in 2020, and over 3,000 UC faculty members have signed a letter saying they want standardized testing back because students are showing up unprepared for college-level work.

The admission jumps aren’t unique to Fresno Unified. Clovis Unified saw UC admissions rise from 65% to 77% in the same period, and Central Unified jumped from 75% to 87%. Statewide, 78% of California high school seniors who applied to a UC got in last year.

School counselors at McLane and Edison high schools say the credit belongs to them and their teams, not to the dropped test requirement. Berenice Tapia, a counselor at McLane, said her team runs multi-part UC application workshops, takes students on campus visits through the Rising Scholars program, and walks alongside students through the entire process instead of just handing them a form.

“Rather than simply telling students to apply, we work alongside them to help them understand their options and successfully navigate the process,” Tapia said.

Marie Aguirre, head counselor at Edison, said her team identifies students who’ve completed the A-G course requirements needed for UC/CSU admission, then reaches out regularly to check on application status, financial aid, and the transition into college life. She sees a gap between high school graduation and college that needs more support, especially for first-generation students.

But UC Merced’s vice chancellor for enrollment management, Scott Hagg, told Fresnoland the dropped SAT/ACT requirement made a “massive difference.” Applications went up when the barrier came down, he said. UC Merced’s enrollment peaked at around 9,100 students in 2023 — though it’s declined since 2025.

Hagg also credited the Merced Automatic Admission Program, which launched its partnership with Fresno Unified in 2025 and creates a pathway for local seniors. Fresno State launched a similar program in 2023 called Bulldog Bound, which holds spots for freshmen and community college transfer students who meet minimum grade requirements.

Jesse Farias, interim director of undergraduate recruitment at Fresno State, said Bulldog Bound has helped low-income and first-generation families see college as a real possibility. “Many of the students as early as ninth grade are saying ‘You know what? This is a possibility for me,'” Farias said. Fresno Unified’s CSU admission rate has held steady at around 97% since 2021, but the number of students applying is up from 2,125 to 2,311 in 2025.

The debate over testing is headed to the legislature. A handful of Republican state senators have introduced a bill that would require the UC Board of Regents to reinstate SAT/ACT score requirements. The UC admissions board announced in July that it’s studying standardized testing and will recommend whether to require scores again by June 2027. A separate report on high school course requirements is due in May 2026.

Faculty concerns center on students entering college without basic math or writing skills, leading to high demand for remedial courses. Hagg said he’s particularly interested in how the admissions board will handle math requirements.

At Edison, students are still encouraged to take the SAT or ACT — the district waives the fees — because test scores can unlock scholarships even when they’re not required for admission. Aguirre cited her own son’s experience: “They don’t use the SATs as a determining factor, but when he went to apply for a scholarship, he was automatically awarded $5,000 because of his score.”

Both high school counselors and university administrators agreed that support can’t stop at admission. Tapia said students need to know “how to budget, manage their time, read a syllabus, connect with professors, use campus resources and most importantly, figure out who to contact when they need help; especially for our first-generation students, they may not know what they don’t know.”

Hagg and Farias both named transportation, healthcare, and affordability as ongoing barriers for Valley families. “We really want to try for students to understand how we can help them overcome those barriers and those challenges,” Farias said, “but all those are still continuous barriers that we still encounter as well.”

The Breakdown

• Fresno Unified’s UC admission rate climbed from 78% in 2021 to 82% in 2025; McLane High alone went from 33 UC admissions to 80 in one year.
• The UC system dropped SAT/ACT requirements in 2020 after concerns about racial disparities; CSU followed in 2022.
• Republican state senators have introduced a bill that would force the UC Board of Regents to bring the testing requirement back; the UC admissions board will recommend whether to reinstate it by June 2027.
• Over 3,000 UC faculty signed a letter supporting a return to admissions testing, citing students arriving unprepared for college-level work.
• Guaranteed-admission programs — UC Merced’s Automatic Admission Program (launched with Fresno Unified in 2025) and Fresno State’s Bulldog Bound (launched 2023) — have also increased applications and enrollment.

What This Means for You

If you’re a parent with a child in Fresno Unified, this is about what’s actually opening or closing the door to college for your kid. The numbers say more students are getting in, but the question is whether that door stays open — and whether your child will be ready to walk through it.

The state legislature will decide whether to require the UC regents to bring back the SAT, and the regents themselves will vote on it by mid-2027. That decision will directly affect whether your child needs a test score to apply, and whether the scholarships tied to those scores become a requirement instead of an option. The faculty letter is a warning sign that the door might swing back closed if too many students show up unprepared.

At the local level, the guaranteed-admission programs at UC Merced and Fresno State give your child a clearer path — if they know about it early enough. That’s the gap counselors are naming: knowing the path exists, and having someone walk it with you.

What to Watch

The first real question is whether this four-year admission bump translates into four-year graduation rates — or whether Fresno Unified students are being set up to fail once they arrive. Aguirre named this directly: “What I would like as an educator is to see the data that once our kids get there, do they graduate? We as educators have always said there’s a gap.”

That gap is the story the material doesn’t tell yet. If students are getting into college but dropping out at higher rates because they lack the academic preparation or the ongoing support to stay enrolled, then the admission-rate celebration is premature at best. The faculty letter claiming students are showing up without basic math or writing skills is not an abstract complaint — it’s a warning that access without readiness can become a trapdoor instead of a ladder.

The second question is about the programs themselves. Bulldog Bound and the Merced Automatic Admission Program both lower the bar for entry — minimum grade requirements, not competitive admissions. That’s an access win, but it also means the students who get in through these programs are the ones who most need sustained support once they’re there. Are the universities actually providing that support, or are they counting admissions and walking away?

Finally, there’s the SAT debate itself. If the state forces testing back into the process, does that close the door again on the students who benefited most from having it removed? Or does it raise the floor so fewer students arrive unprepared? The UC admissions board’s June 2027 recommendation will answer that — but only if you’re watching for it.