Schools Are Requiring SAT and ACT Scores Once more — Right here’s the Full Checklist for 2027

The test-optional period in school admissions is quickly drawing to a detailed. What started as an emergency response to Covid-19 disruptions has become one of the crucial important coverage reversals in current greater training historical past.

From the Ivy League to SEC flagships, colleges are bringing again SAT and ACT necessities, and a few are actually accepting the Basic Studying Check (CLT) as properly. In keeping with Brian Eufinger, co-founder of Edison Prep, “Even at colleges that stay test-optional, scores are sometimes nonetheless required to compete for top-tier advantage scholarships.“

For the highschool class of 2027, which can start submitting purposes this fall, standardized testing is as soon as once more a central a part of the faculty admissions equation.

The Ivy League Leads The Reversal

The dominoes started falling in early 2024, when Dartmouth introduced it might reinstate its SAT/ACT requirement after an inside school research discovered that check scores remained the strongest predictor of educational success.

Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Caltech, and Stanford adopted go well with inside months.

Princeton was among the many final elite holdouts, however in October 2025, it introduced that check scores can be required for the 2027-28 admissions cycle.

Each Ivy League faculty now mandates or strongly recommends standardized testing. Columbia was the final one to revert to testing for fall 2027 candidates.

The shift has been pushed largely by information. Faculties that went test-optional discovered that the absence of scores made it tougher to determine gifted college students. And this has actual world implications for faculties and their budgets. If college students drop out, it is tougher to fill switch college students than freshman.

With out a standardized benchmark, admissions places of work leaned extra closely on grades and extracurriculars, metrics that may be skewed resulting from grade inflation or might favor wealthier candidates with entry polished resumes.

SEC And Southern Flagship Faculties Observe

The development is just not restricted to non-public elites. Among the largest public universities are additionally reinstating check necessities for the autumn 2027 getting into class.

LSU introduced that it’ll as soon as once more require ACT or SAT scores. 

Auburn College is phasing out its test-optional coverage completely. For fall 2027, all candidates might be required to submit ACT or SAT scores, no matter GPA. 

The College of Alabama up to date its admissions course of as properly. Beginning with the 2027 getting into class, college students with a cumulative highschool GPA under 3.0 might be required to submit a standardized check rating.

These bulletins observe earlier strikes by the whole Florida and Georgia public college programs, which had already reinstated testing necessities.

The College of Florida now requires SAT, ACT, or CLT scores for all candidates, and the College of Texas at Austin introduced again its requirement in 2024.

Extra Faculties Settle for The CLT Examination

One notable improvement on this cycle is the rising acceptance of the Basic Studying Check (CLT), a more recent standardized examination that has gained traction. Roughly 325 faculties and universities now settle for the CLT.

In February 2026, the College of North Carolina system authorized the CLT as a suitable different to the SAT and ACT for fall 2027 admissions throughout all UNC campuses. The U.S. Service Academies additionally started accepting CLT scores for the 2027 admissions cycle. Florida public universities already settle for the CLT for admissions and state scholarship eligibility.

Schools Requiring Or Preferring Check Scores

Here’s a record of schools which have reinstated SAT or ACT testing necessities (or now strongly want them), sorted alphabetically:

• Allegheny Wesleyan Faculty
• Allen Faculty
• Auburn College (required under a GPA threshold)
• Boston College (exceptions apply)
• Brigham Younger College – Hawaii
• Brigham Younger College – Idaho
• Brown College
• California Institute of Expertise (Caltech)
• Carnegie Mellon College
• Case Western Reserve College
• Clemson College
• Columbia
• Cornell College
• Cumberland College
• Dartmouth Faculty
• Duke College
• Emory College
• Georgetown College
• Georgia Institute of Expertise 
• Harvard College
• Johns Hopkins College
• Kettering Faculty
• Lee College
• Louisiana State College (LSU)
• Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (MIT)
• Methodist Faculty
• Mills Faculty
• Missouri Valley Faculty
• Northwestern College
• Piedmont College
• Princeton College
• Purdue College
• Randall College
• Stanford College
• United States Service Academies
• College of Alabama (System)
• College of Florida (System)
• College of Georgia (System)
• College of Illinois
• College of Maryland
• College of Miami
• College of Michigan (check most well-liked)
• College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (required under GPA threshold)
• College of Pennsylvania 
• College of South Carolina
• College of Tennessee (System)
• College of Texas at Austin
• College of Virginia
• College of Wisconsin–Madison (check most well-liked)
• Vanderbilt College (check most well-liked)
• Villanova College
• Washington College in St. Louis 
• Yale 
• York Faculty of Pennsylvania

What This Means For College students And Households

The return of testing necessities has fast implications for households.

In keeping with Eufinger, “Many faculties are belatedly saying whether or not they may return to obligatory testing. Not all colleges have even finalized testing insurance policies for the Class of 2027. These timelines are just too late to be truthful.“

Households with college students within the class of 2027 and past ought to at the very least take apply SAT/ACT checks to see the place their college students land, since even when a part of their record could also be check elective for admissions, stable scores can safe 5 and 6 figures of further advantage assist even at check elective colleges.”

Highschool juniors within the class of 2027 who haven’t but taken the SAT, ACT, or CLT ought to plan to take action earlier than fall 2026 utility deadlines. 

For households weighing check prep prices, free assets are extensively out there. The Faculty Board affords free SAT preparation by way of Khan Academy, and the CLT supplies free apply checks on its web site.

Nevertheless, when you’re wanting to use to a aggressive school, prepping for these exams wants to begin now. Households should not await the universities to make up their minds in terms of one thing like check prep that takes time.

Frequent Questions

Which faculties are requiring SAT or ACT scores for the autumn 2027 admissions cycle?

Over 60 faculties and college programs are as soon as once more requiring the SAT or ACT for the 2027 admissions cycle.

Why are faculties reversing their test-optional insurance policies after just some years?

Faculty are reversing their check elective insurance policies as a result of check scores, mixed with different admissions standards, are good indicators of pupil success. College students who fail of their school profession are each monetary and reputational liabilities to high schools.

Does submitting check scores nonetheless matter at colleges that stay test-optional?

Sure, even many check elective faculties are, in actuality, check most well-liked. For instance, Boston Faculty is check elective, however 75% of candidates submit check scores. If you wish to be aggressive, testing issues.

What ought to highschool juniors within the class of 2027 do proper now to arrange for these new testing necessities?

Now’s the time to setup a check apply schedule and even take a check to see the place you stand. That provides you time to review and enhance when you determine gaps.

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