Introduction
Universities use SAT and ACT scores as one component of a comprehensive review process that weighs academic and non-academic factors together. What has changed substantially over the past several years is not the role testing plays where it is required, but whether institutions require it at all; and the answer, across the higher education landscape, is no longer a simple yes or no. Policies now span a wide spectrum, the terminology institutions use is neither standardized nor consistently applied, and the landscape has been shifting rapidly since 2022.
Test Required: The institution mandates SAT or ACT scores from all applicants; an application is incomplete without them.
At one end of the spectrum are institutions that require SAT or ACT scores from all applicants, with limited or no exceptions. MIT was the first university to reinstate its testing requirement after the pandemic, doing so in 2022 for applicants to the Class of 2027. Following Dartmouth’s announcement in February 2024, in which the college cited internal research showing test scores to be reliable predictors of first-year academic performance – Brown, Harvard, Caltech, Cornell, Yale, and Stanford all reinstated requirements within four months. The University of Pennsylvania followed for the 2025–26 cycle, and Johns Hopkins and Georgetown have maintained ongoing requirements. For the current admissions cycle, this category includes most of the Ivy League alongside Stanford, Caltech, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, the University of Florida system, and the University of Georgia, among others.
Even among test-required institutions, narrow exceptions exist. Harvard and Dartmouth both accommodate applicants who face genuine barriers to accessing a test site. Harvard’s admissions page notes that in exceptional cases it may accept predicted grades from A Levels or the International Baccalaureate, AP exam results, or results from a standardized national examination in a student’s home country.
Test Flexible: Scores from the SAT or ACT are required, but may be substituted with results from approved alternative assessments such as AP or IB subject examinations.
Yale occupies its own position on the spectrum, describing its policy as “test flexible.” Applicants may satisfy the testing requirement by submitting SAT or ACT scores, or by submitting results from AP or IB subject examinations. However, for applicants who opt for AP or IB, Yale requires results from all subject examinations completed prior to the time of applying. This works well for students who have sat AP exams in their junior year, but places IB students in a more constrained position.
Test Expected: Scores are the default requirement. The institution expects submission from all applicants, with exceptions permitted only in genuinely extraordinary circumstances, not as a routine choice available to any applicant.
Purdue University is the primary institution using this label, which it applies to its own admissions framework. The university’s admissions page states that applicants are expected to submit SAT or ACT scores, with the clear implication that not doing so places an application at a disadvantage, though exceptions are accommodated in extraordinary circumstances through the Common App. It is worth noting that “test expected” is not a standardised designation across U.S. higher education;Purdue coined and self-applies it, and no other major institution has formally adopted the label.
Test Preferred: Scores are not required but are explicitly encouraged, with the institution signalling that submission meaningfully improves admission, scholarship, or placement outcomes.
Auburn University has until recently described itself as a “test-preferred” institution stating that submitting scores “significantly strengthens your application and is the preferred path for admission consideration”. However, from Fall 2027, Auburn will move to a fully test-required policy, and this transitional designation will no longer apply. “Test preferred” is not a standardised label in U.S. higher education, but Auburn is the only prominent institution to have formally used it.
Test Optional: Applicants decide whether to submit scores, with the institution’s stated position that the choice carries no formal advantage or disadvantage.
The largest category by volume, test-optional institutions allow applicants to choose freely whether to submit scores. Among the Ivy League, Columbia University stands as the only member to have adopted a permanent test-optional policy, announced in 2023 and covering both Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Princeton remains test-optional for applicants seeking Fall 2026 and Fall 2027 entry; however, following a review of five years of admissions data (which showed that students who submitted scores had higher first-year GPAs and stronger degree progression) its Office of Admission announced that standardized testing will be required again beginning with the 2027–28 admissions cycle.
Other prominent institutions maintaining test-optional policies for the current cycle include Duke University (through 2026–27), Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University (through Fall 2027), the University of Chicago, Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis, and New York University (through 2026–27). Carnegie Mellon University is broadly test-optional, with the notable exception that its School of Computer Science requires test scores for Fall 2026 applicants.
The University of Chicago operates with a stated “No Harm” policy: SAT or ACT scores submitted will only be factored into the review if they are likely to benefit the applicant; scores that could negatively affect an application are not considered.
Test Blind / Test Free: Scores are neither requested nor considered at any stage of the admissions or scholarship process, even if voluntarily submitted.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are institutions that neither require nor consider standardized test scores at any point in the admissions or scholarship process. The University of California system’s official position is that UC no longer considers SAT or ACT scores when making admissions decisions or awarding scholarships, though scores may still be submitted for course placement purposes after enrollment. Reed College takes an equivalent stance, stating “Reed will neither require nor use testing results from the SAT or ACT in our admission review.”
Conclusion
Students targeting Fall 2027 admission should treat standardized testing as the default expectation, even at institutions that currently describe themselves as test-optional, since several have already signalled a change is coming.
The single most important step any prospective student can take is to go directly to the official admissions page of each institution they are considering and verify the testing policy for their specific application cycle.
