Test-optional: should you submit your SAT or ACT score?

Test-optional policies spread quickly after 2020, and whether to submit is now one of the most common questions on admissions forums. The honest answer depends on the school, which is why a single rule of thumb doesn't work.

Know which policy you're dealing with#

Four different rules get loosely called "test-optional," and they lead to opposite decisions. The difference is usually one sentence on the admissions page.

• Test-required: you must submit a score. Some schools allow a narrow waiver where testing is genuinely unavailable.
• Test-optional: scores are considered if you send them. If you don't, the rest of your application carries more weight.
• Test-flexible: some testing is expected, but more than one kind counts — a school may accept AP or IB results in place of the SAT or ACT.
• Test-blind (test-free): scores aren't considered, even if you send them.

Several highly selective universities have moved back toward requiring scores, each on its own timeline and with its own wording. Dartmouth reactivated its requirement beginning with applicants to the Class of 2029Footnote 1. Brown reinstated the requirement for first-year applicants over the same periodFootnote 2. Yale announced a test-flexible policy in 2024, but its current policy page states plainly that all first-year and transfer applicants must include ACT or SAT scores — a reminder that an announcement and the rule in force a cycle later are not the same thingFootnote 3. Princeton announced a return to required testing beginning with the 2027–28 admission cycle, for applicants seeking to enroll in fall 2028Footnote 4. MIT reinstated its requirement earlier than any of themFootnote 5. Columbia publishes its own testing policy, which applicants should read directlyFootnote 6.

It is worth keeping the scale of this in proportion. Across all 1,972 four-year institutions that report admissions data to the federal government, only about 5% require admission test scores; more than half consider them if submitted, and roughly 39% do not consider them at all.Footnote 8 Reinstatement is a real trend, but it is concentrated among the most selective universities — which is exactly where it is most likely to affect you, and exactly why a national statistic is no substitute for reading the policy page of every school on your own list.

The school-by-school rule#

For each test-optional school, look up the middle 50% range of SAT or ACT scores (the 25th to 75th percentile). You'll find it in the school's Common Data Set — a standardized set of data definitions maintained jointly by the College Board, Peterson's and U.S. NewsFootnote 7 — in section C9, or on College Scorecard.

• At or above the midpoint: submit. The score supports your application.
• Between the 25th percentile and the midpoint: a judgment call. Submit if your score is stronger than the rest of your academic record; consider withholding it if your grades and course rigor are the clear strength.
• Below the 25th percentile: usually don't submit to a genuinely test-optional school.

Scholarships and programs#

Test-optional admission doesn't always mean test-optional merit aid, honors programs, or admission to specific majors. Check those requirements separately. Sometimes a score unlocks money even when admission doesn't require it.

Katalyna's chance-me analysis places your score within each school's admitted range, so you can make this call school by school instead of guessing.