A prominent mathematics professor at the University of California-Berkeley has criticized the university’s admission standards. She reports that a large number of her students are struggling with college-level calculus, forcing her to teach them middle-school algebra and fractions.
“Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics. Office hours that should be spent discussing integrals instead become lessons on fractions and basic algebra you would expect students to learn in middle school,” wrote Zvezdelina Stankova, of UC Berkeley, in an op-ed for the San Francisco Standard on Saturday for the San Francisco Standard.
Stankova, who earned her PhD from Harvard after growing up in communist Bulgaria, likened the admissions process to a game of chance rather than a thorough evaluation.
A long-time advocate for mathematics education, Stankova founded the Berkeley Math Circle and a local math olympiad for high school students. However, she claims that the admission standards at this leading public university have turned its students into a subject of ridicule.
Earlier this year, she joined thousands of faculty members in signing open letters advocating for the reintroduction of SAT and ACT exams in admissions to ensure the selection of top students.
UC Berkeley phased out standardized testing in 2020, a decision made by then-college president Janet Napolitano, who had previously served as Homeland Security Secretary under President Barack Obama. This move went against a task force’s recommendation to keep entrance exams.
Citing pandemic-related disruptions and concerns over equity, the university made testing optional in 2020, and a court ruling later required UC to adopt a test-blind policy through 2025.
Stankova argued that this policy has negatively impacted UC Berkeley’s academic standards.
The university has one of the lowest acceptance rates among public universities in the U.S., admitting only 10.5% of applicants.
Stankova referenced a diagnostic test given to Calculus I students before 2020, revealing that 71% of students were “ready or nearly ready” for calculus. Only 0.14% scored below basic algebra during that time.
However, between 2021 and 2023, only 44% of students were deemed “ready or nearly ready” to study calculus.
By 2022-23, over a third of calculus students were identified as having significant math deficits, with zero being the most common score.
Stankova attributed the decline in student quality to the elimination of standardized testing, which has resulted in two distinct groups in her classes: one prepared to learn and another requiring extensive remedial help.
While other prestigious universities like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Yale suspended testing requirements during the pandemic, they have since reinstated them.
Stankova emphasized that UC Berkeley has taken a different path from its peers, with no new admissions policy anticipated until fall 2028.
“Students don’t have that kind of time: They attend college once,” she wrote.
UC-Berkeley did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
