#Ramaswamy Thinks College Applicants Should Be Judged on Fitness

• GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suggested an additional criteria for college applicants.
• He said colleges should screen applicants on their physical fitness, such as their 1-mile run time.
• Ramaswamy noted the idea wasn’t part of his campaign platform, but is a “serious proposal.”

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suggested on Monday that colleges should in-part screen applicants based on their physical fitness.

In a 190-word screed on Twitter, Ramaswamy said that he believes that colleges and universities will “deprioritize” applicants’ standardized test scores when reviewing applications in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against affirmative action practices, instead relying on “subjective factors.”

To combat this, the candidate said that College Board should “add a physical fitness section to the SAT, instead of just math and reading sections,” and noted the section could possibly resemble the former Presidential Fitness Test which consisted of a 1-mile run, sit-ups, pull-ups, and more.

Ramaswamy may have been aware that the idea, which received a combination of derision and approval on Twitter, may not be his strongest — he made sure to include in his post that the proposal is not a part of his campaign’s platform.

Though he’s a 38-year-old with no formal political experience, Ramaswamy was a surprising breakout star of the first GOP presidential debate on August 23, drawing in heaps of applause from the audience over his repeated attacks against fellow candidates and his unabashed support for former President Donald Trump — following the debate, Trump posted to Truth Social to note that in his eyes, Ramaswamy was the debate’s clear victor.

According to an average of national polls deemed “major” by FiveThirtyEight, Ramaswamy sqaurely sits in third place behind Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, bringing in an average of 10.3% support.

Ramaswamy has a long ways to go to catch up to Trump in the polls, but he’s also being floated online for another possible position in the White House: vice president.

Insider previously reported that the world’s wealthiest man, Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX owner Elon Musk, said he thinks Ramaswamy should be the the GOP nominee’s running mate. Ramaswamy has also previously noted that if he makes it to the White House, he’d tap Musk as a potential adviser.