The inevitability of the standardized testing situation finally appears to be sinking in with even the most highly selective schools. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern and University of Texas, Austin finally have joined the ranks of the Test Optional schools for the 2020-2021 application cycle. Still, there is no word from Michigan, Emory, Wisconsin (Madison). The big question is: what could they possibly be waiting for?
As unfair as this sounds, with each school defining test optional differently, we still recommend that students continue to prepare to take the tests this fall, if possible. While some schools are emphasizing their holistic review process, other schools have indicated that they wish students to use their best efforts to sit for the test (e.g. Harvard has changed its policy and will now accept test scores from the November exam for Early Action and from the February exam for Regular Decision – thus giving students more time to take the test). The uncertainty surrounding access to standardized testing will be taken into account by all universities during their application review process.
Below is a list of the schools that have recently become test optional in light of COVID, plus schools that fall into the category of “highly competitive” that have been test optional for some time. For a complete list of ALL test optional schools check out Fair Test.
Latest Test Optional Schools as of June 12, 2020
Amherst College (for high school class of 2021)
Babson University (for high school class of 20/21, then will review)
Barnard College (for high school class of 2021)
Bates College
Baylor University (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
Bentley University (for high school class of 2021)
Bowdoin*
Boston University (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
Bryn Mawr College*
Brown (for high school class of 2021)
Butler University
California Institute of Technology (2-year Test Blind pilot)
California Lutheran University
Cal State System
Carleton College (for high school class of 2021)
Carnegie Mellon University (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
Claremont McKenna College (for high school class of 2021)
Colby College
Colorado College*
Colgate University (for high school class of 2021)
College of Charleston (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
College of William & Mary (3-year pilot)
Columbia University (for high school class of 2021)
Connecticut College*
The Cooper Union (2-year pilot)
Cornell University (for high school class of 2021)
Dartmouth College (for high school class of 2021)
Davidson College (3-year pilot)
Denison College*
Duke University (for high school class of 2021)
Elon University (3-year pilot)
Fordham University (2-year pilot)
George Washington University*
Georgetown University (for high school class of 2021)
Grinnell College (for high school class of 2021)
Hamilton College (shift from test-flexible to ACT/SAT optional for class of 2021)
Harvard University (for high school class of 2021)
Haverford College (3-year pilot)
Johns Hopkins University (for high school class of 2021)
Kenyon College (for high school class of 2021)
Lafayette College (for high school class of 2021)
Loyola Marymount University (for high school class of 2021)
Macalester College
Michigan State University (for high school class of 2021)
Middlebury College (3-year pilot, previously test-flexible)
Minnesota State University Moorhead (3.25 GPA)
Mount Holyoke College*
Northeastern University (for high school class of 2021)
Northwestern University (for high school class of 2021)
Occidental College (for high school class of 2021)
Oberlin College (3-year pilot)
Olin College of Engineering (for high school class of 2021)
Pennsylvania State University (for high school class of 2021)
Pomona College (for high school class of 2021)
Pitzer College*
Princeton University (for high school class of 2021)
Purdue University Northwest (for high school class of 2021)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rhodes College (3-year pilot)
Skidmore College*
Smith*
Southern Methodist University (for high school class of 2021)
St. Louis University (3-year pilot)
Stanford University (for high school class of 2021)
Trinity College*
Tufts University (3-year pilot)
Tulane University (for high school class of 2021)
University of California Berkeley (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California Davis (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California Irvine (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California Los Angeles (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California Merced (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California Riverside (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California San Diego (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California Santa Barbara (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of California Santa Cruz (for high school class of 2021 and 2022, then test blind)
University of Connecticut (3-year pilot)
University of Chicago
University of Delaware (for all applicants in high school class of 2021, previously in-state only)
University of Hawaii (for high school class of 2021)
University of Louisville (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
University of Miami (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
University of Oregon
University of Pennsylvania (for high school class of 2021)
University of Richmond (for high school class of 2021)
University of Rochester
University of San Diego
University of Southern California (for high school class of 2021)
University of Texas, Austin (for high school class of 2021)
University of Washington Seattle
University of Virginia (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
Union College*
University of Wisconsin System (except for Madison campus for high school class of 2021)
Vanderbilt University (for high school class of 2021)
Vassar College (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
Villanova University (for high school class of 2021)
Virginia Tech (for high school class of 2021)
Wake Forest University
Washington and Lee University (for high school class of 2021)
Washington University in St. Louis (for high school class of 2021)
Wellesley College (for high school class of 2021)
Wesleyan*
Williams College (for high school class of 2021, then will review)
Yale (for high school class of 2021)
*Test Optional prior to 2020
