Colleges Requiring SAT and ACT Scores: Yale to Georgetown

Colleges requiring SAT and ACT scores: Yale to Georgetown

Four private universities now sit among the colleges requiring SAT and ACT scores, and three of them got there by reversing course. Yale announced earlier this year that its SAT and ACT requirement returns for first-year and transfer applicants starting with the next admissions cycle, ending a test-flexible policy adopted in 2024 and a four-year test-optional stretch that began during the pandemic (Yale News). Stanford and Dartmouth made similar reversals over the past two years. Georgetown never left.

Together, these four count among the test-optional colleges reinstating standardized tests after pandemic-era experiments, but the available evidence doesn't establish a national shift. Each is a private university that set its own policy for its own stated reasons, and none of their announcements say anything about state flagships, regional public universities, or community colleges. This article walks through what changed at each school, why they say they changed it, what independent research does and doesn't confirm about their equity arguments, and what applicants should check before assuming a college's admissions standardized testing policy applies to them.

Which colleges require SAT or ACT scores right now?

The Yale SAT and ACT requirement has moved three times in six years. Yale went fully test-optional in 2020 in response to pandemic-era testing disruptions, shifted to a test-flexible model in 2024 that accepted SAT, ACT, AP, or IB scores, and has now returned to requiring an ACT or SAT score, restoring the policy that existed before 2020 (Yale News). Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis chaired the faculty council that recommended the change, and the university frames it as a return to a previous norm rather than a new rule.

Stanford reinstated its testing requirement for the application cycle that opened in August last year, covering the class entering this fall, following a formal recommendation from the Faculty Senate's Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid (Stanford News). Stanford describes academic excellence as its primary admissions criterion and says testing will again be weighed alongside GPA, coursework, and other materials, considered in context as part of an integrated whole.

Stanford also reported that its class entering in fall 2024, the group admitted before the requirement returned, had an average 3.94 high school GPA and a 1540 SAT score among students who submitted scores (Stanford News). That figure describes who was already testing voluntarily. It doesn't predict how a mandatory requirement changes who applies or who's admitted from here forward.

Dartmouth reactivated its testing requirement for applicants to the Class of 2029, citing new research as part of its reasoning (Dartmouth Admissions). As published, the requirement covers students who attended high school in the United States, who must submit either SAT or ACT results, and Dartmouth states no institutional preference between the two tests.

Georgetown's story is continuity, not reversal. The university required test scores before the pandemic and kept that requirement in place throughout, with one narrow exception: applicants who genuinely couldn't access a testing site during the pandemic weren't required to submit scores, though applicants who were able to test still had to (Georgetown News). Georgetown says it will maintain that same requirement going forward.

Some coverage has framed this moment as elite colleges returning to SAT requirements, but that framing describes four schools, not a sector. Because these policies have shifted more than once at the same institutions in a short span, applicants should verify the current version for their own cycle directly on each school's admissions page rather than assuming a peer school's rule, or last year's rule at the same school, still applies.

Three things worth separating: policy, rationale, and evidence

Reading these four announcements side by side gets easier when three separate questions stay separate.

The policy fact is documented directly by each school: Yale, Stanford, and Dartmouth reinstated testing requirements after periods of test-optional or test-flexible admissions, while Georgetown maintained its requirement throughout.

The institutional rationale is what each school says about why. Yale and Georgetown tie the requirement to identifying academic preparation, particularly among disadvantaged applicants. Dartmouth cites new research as informing its decision, without detailing that research on its public testing-policy page (Dartmouth Admissions).

The outcome evidence is the part none of these schools has published. None of the four has released data showing whether reinstating a requirement, or maintaining one, changed applicant volume, admission rates, or enrollment among low-income, first-generation, or minority students. The next two sections look first at what each school claims, then at what independent research says about whether that claim holds up.

Why colleges say they're bringing testing back

The institutional rationale leans heavily on the idea that testing helps, rather than hurts, applicants from under-resourced backgrounds. Dean Lewis said SAT and ACT scores are "strong predictors" of academic performance at Yale and, used within a whole-person review, can help identify well-prepared candidates, "especially those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds" (Yale News). Jeremiah Quinlan, Yale's dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, added that academic strength has remained the admissions committee's first consideration even as testing policy shifted around it.

Georgetown points to outside research to justify its position. The university says its continued requirement is informed by National Bureau of Economic Research analysis finding that test-optional policies at selective universities disproportionately harm students from poorly resourced high schools (Georgetown News). Georgetown's announcement doesn't name the paper, its authors, or its methodology, so this is worth reading as Georgetown's stated rationale, not as evidence a reader can independently verify.

Yale also offers a data point about how many applicants were already testing before the requirement returned. Over the two most recent admissions cycles, more than 80% of applicants voluntarily submitted ACT or SAT scores, meaning fewer than one in five applied without them (Yale News). Among enrolled students, the share was higher: 90% of the class that started at Yale last fall included scores, and 92% of the class entering this fall did. Those are two different populations. The applicant figure covers everyone who applied; the enrollment figures cover only the students Yale admitted who chose to enroll. The gap shows score submission was more common among enrolled students than the full applicant pool, but it doesn't explain why, and it doesn't predict how a mandatory requirement changes who applies going forward.

Separating a test's reliability from the fairness of requiring it

The claim that mandatory testing helps rather than hinders equity deserves the closest look, because it's the piece these schools can't fully back with their own data. A peer-reviewed review published last year examined 72 studies on the SAT and ACT using a validity framework built on the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (Amrein-Beardsley et al., Education Policy Analysis Archives). The review draws a line between how well the tests measure something and whether decisions made using those scores hold up. It found the tests psychometrically strong, but reported mixed evidence when scores are used for high-stakes admissions decisions, especially for disadvantaged and racial-minority students.

That distinction splits a question colleges often talk about as if it were one. Yale argues scores can help predict academic performance, and the review's finding that the tests are psychometrically strong is closer to what that particular claim requires. But the review finds the validity of decisions based on those scores remains contested for students from racial-minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds specifically, without settling why the evidence is mixed.

None of that confirms or refutes what Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, or Dartmouth claim about their own policies. It says the underlying question, whether mandatory testing helps or hurts equity in practice, stays open. Treating a college's stated rationale as settled science overstates what this source shows.

The equity conversation at these schools isn't limited to testing, either. Stanford is reinstating its requirement while still studying whether to keep considering legacy and donor status for academically qualified applicants (Stanford News). The university is also opting out of state financial aid funding, including the Cal Grant program, and replacing it with university scholarship money to comply with AB 1780, a 2024 California law restricting alumni and donor preferences at colleges that receive state student aid. Stanford says students don't need to take any action; the university will adjust financial aid packages automatically. None of this settles whether required testing is fairer than test-optional review, but it shows a testing requirement is one piece of how a school defines fairness, not the whole picture. That lines up with the outcome-evidence gap noted earlier: none of these four schools has published data on whether its policy change actually altered applicant volume or enrollment among disadvantaged students.

What applicants should check before building a testing plan

Applicants should verify how a requirement applies to their category before finalizing a testing plan for any school on their list. Confirm the following directly with each college's admissions office or current admissions page:

• Applicant category. Dartmouth's published requirement covers students who attended high school in the United States. It doesn't spell out the same rule for every international applicant, so students applying from outside the U.S., along with transfer applicants, should verify the policy that applies to their specific situation.
• Which test counts. Dartmouth accepts either the SAT or ACT with no institutional preference between them. Other schools may phrase this differently, so check the exact wording on each site.
• Application and score deadlines. Testing requirements are tied to specific admissions cycles. Stanford's requirement took effect for the cycle that opened August 1, 2025, covering fall 2026 entry; a different cycle at a different school could carry different rules.
• Superscoring policy. Dartmouth automatically superscores across test dates and formats, combining a student's best section scores regardless of when or how they tested (Dartmouth Admissions). This is a Dartmouth-specific policy, not a universal one.
• Score-reporting method. Check whether the school wants scores sent through the testing agency, self-reported on the application, or both.
• Fee waivers and accommodations. Ask the admissions office or testing organization what fee waivers and accommodations are available if cost or access to a testing center is a concern.

Retaking a test is a decision to weigh, not a default step. It makes more sense when a school's superscoring policy rewards combining best section results across sittings, and less sense when time or fees are real constraints. Asking about fee waivers and accommodations first can clarify whether a retake is realistic before committing to one.

What the evidence does not show

Four facts are solid: Yale, Stanford, and Dartmouth reinstated SAT or ACT requirements after periods of test-optional or test-flexible admissions, and Georgetown maintained its requirement throughout, aside from a narrow pandemic-era exception (Yale News; Stanford News; Dartmouth Admissions; Georgetown News). What isn't confirmed is whether required testing produces fairer outcomes for disadvantaged applicants than test-optional policies do, or whether other colleges will follow this pattern. Last year's peer-reviewed review found that fairness question still open rather than resolved (Education Policy Analysis Archives), and none of these four schools has released enrollment data testing it directly.

Before finalizing a testing plan for this cycle, run a short check for every school on the list:

• Confirm which applicant category the testing requirement covers: U.S. high school student, international applicant, or transfer applicant.
• Confirm which test the school accepts and whether it states a preference between the SAT and ACT.
• Note the application deadline tied to that specific cycle's requirement.
• Check the score-reporting method the school wants: self-reported, sent by the testing agency, or both.
• Note whether the school superscores across test dates.

Contact the admissions office directly if any of this isn't stated clearly for the situation at hand. That step, not assuming one school's policy carries over to another, or that last year's rule at the same school still applies, is the more reliable way to plan a testing strategy this cycle.