Harvard College announced that it will reinstate its standardized testing requirement for admissions starting next year.

The college initially paused its standardized tests “at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when students no longer had reliable access to testing sites,” and later made it “optional” for the admissions application,” wrote Hopi Hoekstra, Harvard’s Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

This process was originally set to continue through the Class of 2030.

“More information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range,” Hoekstra added. “With this change, we hope to strengthen our ability to identify these promising students.”

Some colleges have moved away from standardized testing as “students from low-income families and other less advantaged backgrounds have lower standardized test scores and are less likely to take the test than students from higher income families,” according to a study from Opportunity Insights.

Medical schools previously announced that they were dropping Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) requirements in favor of alternative routes that promote “diversity.”

“The MCAT has been shown to predict who has the best chance to be successful in medical school,” Do No Harm Program Manager Laura Morgan told The Daily Caller. “Eliminating it removes a proven standard for schools to consider when admitting students who demonstrate the aptitude to be good doctors.”

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) administers the MCAT, encouraging a holistic admission model that considers an applicant’s “experiences and attributes.”