As we move further away from the height of the pandemic, the admissions landscape is changing and many schools are reevaluating their testing policies. Harvard follows other Ivy League schools Brown, Dartmouth and Yale in reinstating test requirements. University of Texas, MIT, California Institute of Technology, and Georgetown also require test scores for the high school class of 2025, as well as the Florida and Georgia University systems. Some universities, including Stanford, Cornell, and Rice, have already announced plans to reinstate testing requirements for fall 2026.
At the College Curators, we recommend that high school students in the class of 2025 still consider taking the ACT or SAT, but whether or not they submit their scores should depend on personal performance. Our advice is that:
- Students should not sacrifice their mental or physical health to take a test.
- If your test score does not fall within the upper 50% range of your desired school OR it doesn’t reflect your academic school performance, you have the option not to submit.
- Remember, if you decide not to submit your test score, everything else will matter more in the admissions process.
Rigor and grades continue to matter the most when supported by a compelling story.
We are encouraged by the number of schools maintaining their commitment to test-optional policies, both for the next round of admissions or permanently. Despite the evolving college admissions landscape, there remains an extensive selection of test-optional avenues for students graduating in 2025 and beyond.
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List of SAT and ACT Test Optional Colleges for fall 2025 Admissions cycle:
**updated as of 6/30/24**
American University*
Amherst College*
Auburn University
Babson College
Bard College*
Barnard College
Bates College*
Baylor University
Beloit College*
Bentley University
Binghamton University*
Birmingham Southern
Boise State University*
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College*
Brandeis University*
Bryn Mawr College*
Bucknell University
Cal State
California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo*
Carleton College
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Claremont McKenna College
Clark University*
Clemson University*
Colby College*
Colgate University
College of Charleston
College of the Holy Cross*
College of William and Mary*
Colorado College*
Colorado School of Mines
Columbia College Chicago*
Columbia University in the City of New York
Connecticut College*
Cornell College*
Cornell University
Davidson College
Denison University*
DePaul University*
DePauw University*
Dickinson College*
Earlham College*
Elon University*
Emerson College*
Fordham University
Franklin and Marshall College*
George Washington University*
Gonzaga University
Goucher College*
Grinnell College
Hamilton College*
Hampshire College*
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College*
Hobart William Smith*
Howard University
Indiana University – Bloomington
Ithaca College*
Johns Hopkins University
Kalamazoo College*
Kenyon College
Lafayette College
Lehigh University*
Lewis & Clark College*
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola University Chicago
Macalester College*
Marquette University*
Michigan State University*
Middlebury College*
Mount Holyoke College*
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Oberlin College
Occidental College*
Ohio State University – Main Campus
Ohio University – Main Campus
Pennsylvania State University
Pepperdine University*
Pitzer College*
Pratt Institute*
Princeton University
Providence College*
Quinnipiac University (some majors required)*
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rice University*
RISD*
Rutgers University – New Brunswick
San Diego State
Santa Clara University
Santa Monica College
Sarah Lawrence College*
Savannah College of Art & Design*
Scripps College*
Seattle University*
Sewanee – The University of the South*
Skidmore College*
Smith College*
Soka University of America
Southern Methodist University*
Southwestern University*
St. Andrews
St. Olaf
Stanford University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Swarthmore College
Syracuse University
Temple University*
Texas A&M University – College Station
Texas Christian University
The New School*
Trinity College*
Trinity College Texas
Tufts University
Tulane University
University of Missouri
Union College (some majors required)*
University at Buffalo
University of Arizona
University of California – Berkeley*
University of California – Davis*
University of California – Irvine*
University of California – Los Angeles*
University of California – Merced*
University of California – Riverside*
University of California – San Diego*
University of California – Santa Barbara*
University of California – Santa Cruz*
University of Chicago*
University of Colorado – Boulder
University of Connecticut
University of Delaware
University of Denver*
University of Hawaii – Manoa
University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign
University of Kansas
University of Maryland – College Park
University of Massachusetts Amherst*
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor*
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh Campus
University of Puget Sound*
University of Rhode Island
University of Richmond
University of Rochester*
University of San Diego
University of San Francisco*
University of Southern California
University of St Andrews
University of the Pacific
University of Utah (some majors required)*
University of Vermont
University of Virginia – Main Campus
University of Washington – Seattle Campus*
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College*
Villanova University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Wake Forest University*
Washington and Lee University
Washington State University (test free)*
Washington University in St. Louis
Wesleyan University*
Western Washington University
Whitman College*
Willamette University*
William and Mary*
Williams College
Yeshiva University (RD applicants only)
*Colleges with a Permanently Test Optional Policy
**Visit fairtest.org for a complete list
