The test-optional era in college admissions is rapidly drawing to a close. What began as an emergency response to Covid-19 disruptions has turned into one of the most significant policy reversals in recent higher education history.

From the Ivy League to SEC flagships, schools are bringing back SAT and ACT requirements, and some are now accepting the Classic Learning Test (CLT) as well. According to Brian Eufinger, co-founder of Edison Prep, "Even at schools that remain test-optional, scores are often still required to compete for top-tier merit scholarships."

For the high school class of 2027, which will begin submitting applications this fall, standardized testing is once again a central part of the college admissions equation.

The Ivy League Leads The Reversal

The dominoes began falling in early 2024, when Dartmouth announced it would reinstate its SAT/ACT requirement after an internal faculty study found that test scores remained the strongest predictor of academic success.

Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Caltech, and Stanford followed suit within months.

Princeton was among the last elite holdouts, but in October 2025, it announced that test scores would be required for the 2027-28 admissions cycle.

Every Ivy League school except Columbia now mandates or strongly recommends standardized testing.

The shift has been driven largely by data. Schools that went test-optional found that the absence of scores made it harder to identify talented students. And this has real world implications for colleges and their budgets. If students drop out, it's harder to fill transfer students than freshman.

Without a standardized benchmark, admissions offices leaned more heavily on grades and extracurriculars, metrics that can be skewed due to grade inflation or could favor wealthier applicants with access polished resumes.

SEC And Southern Flagship Schools Follow

The trend is not limited to private elites. Some of the largest public universities are also reinstating test requirements for the fall 2027 entering class.

LSU announced that it will once again require ACT or SAT scores.

Auburn University is phasing out its test-optional policy entirely. For fall 2027, all applicants will be required to submit ACT or SAT scores, regardless of GPA.

The University of Alabama updated its admissions process as well. Starting with the 2027 entering class, students with a cumulative high school GPA below 3.0 will be required to submit a standardized test score.

These announcements follow earlier moves by the entire Florida and Georgia public university systems, which had already reinstated testing requirements.

The University of Florida now requires SAT, ACT, or CLT scores for all applicants, and the University of Texas at Austin brought back its requirement in 2024.

More Schools Accept The CLT Exam

One notable development in this cycle is the growing acceptance of the Classic Learning Test (CLT), a newer standardized exam that has gained traction. Roughly 325 colleges and universities now accept the CLT.

In February 2026, the University of North Carolina system approved the CLT as an acceptable alternative to the SAT and ACT for fall 2027 admissions across all UNC campuses. The U.S. Service Academies also began accepting CLT scores for the 2027 admissions cycle. Florida public universities already accept the CLT for admissions and state scholarship eligibility.

Colleges Requiring Or Preferring Test Scores

Here is a list of colleges that have reinstated SAT or ACT testing requirements (or now strongly prefer them), sorted alphabetically:

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

What This Means For Students And Families

The return of testing requirements has immediate implications for families.

According to Eufinger, "Many colleges are belatedly announcing whether they will return to mandatory testing. Not all schools have even finalized testing policies for the Class of 2027. These timelines are simply too late to be fair."

Families with students in the class of 2027 and beyond should at least take practice SAT/ACT tests to see where their students land, since even if part of their list may be test optional for admissions, solid scores can secure five and six figures of additional merit aid even at test optional schools."

High school juniors in the class of 2027 who have not yet taken the SAT, ACT, or CLT should plan to do so before fall 2026 application deadlines.

For families weighing test prep costs, free resources are widely available. The College Board offers free SAT preparation through Khan Academy, and the CLT provides free practice tests on its website.

However, if you're wanting to apply to a competitive college, prepping for these exams needs to start now. Families shouldn't wait for the colleges to make up their minds when it comes to something like test prep that takes time.

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