Some Colleges Are Requiring the SAT Again — Now What?

July 22, 2026 · #policy , #SAT , #standardized testing , #test-optional

Some Colleges Are Requiring the SAT Again

After the pandemic, a lot of U.S. colleges dropped their testing requirements — but over the last few cycles, some have brought the SAT or ACT back as mandatory. MIT, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, and Harvard have all announced they’re reinstating testing requirements.

Their reasoning is roughly the same: internal data showed that test scores actually help them fairly identify promising students from ordinary high schools with limited resources — and that looking only at GPA and activities works against exactly those kids.

Worth noting: it’s mainly the very top schools requiring scores again. Plenty of public and mid-tier private schools are still test-optional, and the entire University of California system is test-blind — it won’t even look at scores you send. Policy is school-by-school; there’s no one-size-fits-all rule.

What Parents Need to Do This Cycle

With testing rules tightening, the first thing to do is go down your kid’s target list and check each school’s current requirement — don’t apply one general impression to every school.

It’s easy to verify: check each school’s admissions requirements page, or look at its Common Data Set, which spells out whether scores are required, optional, or ignored this cycle. When an agent tells you ‘nobody needs it anymore,’ that’s very likely out of date.

If any top schools are on the list, plan testing early. Aim for a first attempt around spring of 11th grade, which leaves room for a retake. A score that lands in a target school’s range is a real plus; if it doesn’t, you’ll have time to adjust the tiers on your list.

Not sure which tier your kid’s score puts them in at a given school? Use PeiPaoLab’s free positioning quiz to see whether it’s a safety, a target, or a reach — then decide how high to push on testing.