Which universities still require standardized test scores? List of top colleges
Many of the country’s top universities have gone test optional after seeing that it has made little impact on the student profile accepted.
One of the effects of the covid-19 pandemic that has flown under the radar is the shift away from using standardized tests like the ACT and SAT during the college admissions process.
During the pandemic, students could not take the SAT and ACT in person, leading some colleges and universities to make submitting scores for these exams optional. While the reasoning was initially logistical, many institutions of higher learning have made the change permanent after years of critiques that the exams were a poor way to judge a student’s academic abilities. The news outlet, More Perfect Union, published a helpful video about how standardized tests uphold systemic racism and racial bias against applicants of color.
Do the Ivy Leagues require ACT or SAT scores?
The Ivy Leagues, which include Brown University, Cornell University, Colombia University, Dartmouth University, Harvard University, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University, have made submitting scores for these tests optional.
Writing for the Harvard Crimson, Vivi E. Lu spoke with Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons, who said that in cases where students opt not to submit test scores, they “will not be disadvantaged in the admissions process.” Instead, the admissions office will judge a candidate by what they do submit, with Fitzsimmons encouraging students to “send whatever materials they believe would convey their accomplishments in secondary school and their promise for the future.”
Does the University of California system require ACT or SAT scores?
The University of California system, which includes schools like UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, and UC Santa Cruz, will not accept scores, even if students would like to send them along with the rest of their applications.
On the UC’s website, they state clearly that admissions officers “will not consider ACT or SAT test scores for admissions decisions or the awarding of scholarships for any applicants.” The only way the scores would be used is for “course placement after you enroll.”
What Big 10 scores require ACT or SAT scores?
- Indiana University Bloomington: Test optional
- University of Maryland, College Park: Test optional through at least 2025
- University of Michigan: Test optional through at least 2024
- Michigan State University: Test optional
- East Lansing University: Test optional
- Ohio State University: Currently not required, no decision on 2024-2025 made
- Pennsylvania State University: Test optional through 2025
- Rutgers University-New Brunswick: Not required
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign: Test optional
- University of Iowa: Test options, but the admissions office may require students “to submit additional academic documents, transcripts, or a personal statement to receive an admission decision”
- University of Minnesota: Test optional through 2025
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln: Not required, but accepted
- Northwestern University: Not yet determined for 2024-2025 admissions cycle
- Purdue University: Will begin to be required again for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle.
- University of Wisconsin–Madison: Not required for 2024-2025 admissions cycle