I believe college board landscape (if used) has info by census track (so about 4K people), which is far more nuanced than zip code - that said, your point still remains, though to a lesser impact for schools using landscape (which i imagine is more common in highly selective schools).
If colleges think high test score kids are valuable, then wouldn’t staying test option mean they would get fewer of those kids while those requiring tests will attract more of them? I am just wondering if that alone could be an incentive to bring back the test. Of course the key word here is “if.”
In addition to my earlier note, I’ll remind users yet again the College Confidential is not a debate society. If you find yourself repetitively making the same points, take it to PM or take a break to read other threads
The court decision means that UCs cannot be test optional. However, they can choose to be either test required or test blind.
Note that, before COVID-19, UCs required SAT or ACT, but they tended to weight them less than many other more selective colleges. Before COVID-19, a comparison of UCLA and USC frosh profiles showed that UCLA frosh had higher HS GPA, while USC frosh had higher SAT or ACT scores, for example. Before COVID-19, there were lots of “UC disappointment” threads by applicants who thought that their higher SAT or ACT would compensate for their lower GPA, but found out that it was not the case at UCs.
So legally they could opt in to require tests again? I was under the impression that they had to go to court if they wanted to bring the tests back.
Looks like articles about the settlement say that UC agreed not to use SAT or ACT for applicants to enter through spring 2025, but all links to the actual settlement text go to a page that is no longer present on the site it was hosted on.
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Yes, the most likely reason the vast majority of those 46% didn’t submit was because they couldn’t beat the 25th percentile.
Have any other colleges gone back to requiring test submissions? I’d be interested to have this list added to as schools join in. I know some are reinstating tests in the 2026 application cycle.
Is there a running list somewhere…not just the colleges in the subject heading here?
Not sure how complete but and it’s third party
| University | SAT/ACT Testing Requirements |
|---|---|
| Harvard | To Be Reinstated Fall 2025 |
| Brown | To Be Reinstated Fall 2025 |
| Dartmouth | To Be Reinstated Fall 2025 |
| Yale* | To Be Reinstated Fall 2025 |
| Cornell** | To Be Reinstated Fall 2026 |
| MIT | Required |
| — | — |
| Georgetown | Required |
| Purdue | Reinstated Fall 2024 |
| Caltech | To Be Reinstated Fall 2025 |
| University of Texas at Austin | To Be Reinstated Fall 2025 |
| Stanford | To be reinstated Fall 2026 |
| Vanderbilt | To Be Reinstated Fall 2028 |
| University of Wisconsin | To Be Reinstated Fall 2028 |
Less Selective Colleges Requiring SAT/ACT Scores
| University | Location |
|---|---|
| Alcorn State University | Lorman, MS |
| Auburn University at Montgomery | Montgomery, AL |
| Augusta University (beginning fall 2026) | Augusta, GA |
| Delta State University | Cleveland, MS |
| Fairmont State University | Fairmont, WV |
| Florida Atlantic University | Boca Raton, FL |
| Florida Gulf Coast University | Fort Myers, FL |
| Florida International University | Miami, FL |
| Florida Polytechnic University | Lakeland, FL |
Besides UPenn and JHU, I would add (to apply during fall 2025 for freshman fall 2026):
UNC will require scores for applicants with a weighted GPA under 2.8
CMU will require SAT/ACT for its School of Computer Science and the remaining CMU schools will be test-flexible, requiring SAT or ACT or AP/IB, etc.
A clarification, Vandy is requiring for fall 2028 start/high school class of 2028, so, required to apply during the 2027-28 admission season, unless I misunderstand.
Also, Rice is test-recommended.
Aren’t all Florida public universities test-required, although some also accept the CLT as well as the SAT or ACT?
I believe that’s the case -
it was a third party list of changes I took.
Not sure if FL was ever TO or not during covid’s first year.
I posted recently on this thread that U Miami and Penn are both back to requiring tests starting with HS Class of 2026.
I don’t know of any third party site that is up-to-date on the changes.
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How about if we start a list here that can be added to…or do we need another almost identical thread…and not third party.
Fairtest.org probably is the closest to having a list but everyone still needs to verify with the schools directly since policies change so quickly.
I’m not looking for a list of test optional or test blind. I’m looking to create a list of colleges that have reverted back to requiring tests that went TO for a while.
Sadly fairtest isn’t tracking schools that require/go back to requiring tests (but they are a great source for test optional/test blind with all the appropriate links to announcements)
I would like that list too (I have a 2026 grad)
I think I am one of the few who actually prefers test required. I am tired of all the strategizing and hand-wringing over test scores. At this point, after so many TO cycles, published SAT scores at some schools are so skewed that a 1400 looks like a “bad” score (and I am not talking about just tippy top schools).
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You could use this thread to create a list, and then create a google search that pulls these announcements as they happen. This thread is much longer than the number of schools that have reverted back to requiring tests 
Time will tell how many more make the switch…maybe a dozen? Or two? It’s unlikely to be much greater than that.
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