# Standardized Test Policies

Standardized tests are a common component of many college admissions packages. Each school has different requirements and considerations for standardized tests. Below you can find each VetLink partner institution's admissions testing policy, policy statement, latest fall entry year that the policy is valid for, and link to the school's test policy.&#x20;

*Updated effective December 18, 2025*

<details>

<summary>American University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Prospective students may apply to American University through our Early or Regular Decision Plan without submitting standardized test scores.

**Latest fall entry year:** Indefinite

[**Link to Policy**](https://www.american.edu/admissions/first-year/test-optional.cfm)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Amherst College</summary>

Admissions Testing Policy: Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Standardized testing (either SAT or ACT) is an optional part of our admission application for both first-year applicants and transfer applicants and constitutes only one element of our comprehensive and holistic application review process.

**Latest fall entry year:** Indefinite

[**Link to policy**](https://www.amherst.edu/admission/apply/firstyear/testing)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Bates College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Standardized testing, such as the SAT and the ACT, is optional for all students applying to Bates.

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.bates.edu/admission/optional-testing/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Boston College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Boston College will continue its test-optional admission policy for the 2024-25 application cycle.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2024-25

[**Link to policy**](https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/admission/apply/test-optional.html)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Bowdoin College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Bowdoin College is test-optional for all applicants.

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.bowdoin.edu/admissions/our-process/test-optional-policy/index.html)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Brown University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Required for first year applicants; Test Optional for transfer applicants

**Policy Details:** Brown University has returned to a policy requiring standardized test scores (either SAT or ACT scores) for first-year applicants beginning with the 2024-25 admission cycle. Brown is test-optional for transfer applicants.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2025

[**Link to policy**](https://www.brown.edu/news/2024-03-05/admissions?fbclid=IwAR0d-gRmEy2yb5DW0hjB8ptllGPeF9rXTEGTCOEY7EcT7nJCV8SJ2MwUroU_aem_AfbUy3R2BwqKOYBwVfFrLkIv4WUvsxDL_O7v9zYaTjCozvG4Ky985CmKHUs5wWY_oWQ)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Catholic University of America</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** We do not require standardized tests as part of the review for admission, selection for the University Honors Program, or merit scholarships.&#x20;

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.colgate.edu/news/stories/colgate-remain-test-optional-through-2026)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Colgate University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Colgate will remain test optional thorough the 2026-2027 application cycle. We will evaluate the data during the course of the 2026-27 academic year and then make a more permanent decision.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2026-27

[**Link to policy**](https://www.colgate.edu/news/stories/colgate-remain-test-optional-through-2026)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Cornell University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Required for first-year applicants; Test Optional for transfer applicants

**Policy Details:** Cornell has [reinstituted standardized testing requirements](https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/04/cornell-reinstate-standardized-test-requirements-fall-2026) for first-year students seeking undergraduate admission. Effective for students applying for Fall 2026 or beyond, first-year applicants will be required to submit standardized test scores. SAT or ACT scores are neither required nor expected for transfer applicants.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2025

[**Link to policy**](https://admissions.cornell.edu/policies/standardized-testing-policy)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Dartmouth College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Required

**Policy Details:** Standardized testing is a required element of Dartmouth's undergraduate application.

[**Link to policy**](https://admissions.dartmouth.edu/apply/update-testing-policy)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Duke University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Duke University is test-optional for both first-year and transfer applicants in the 2025-26 admissions cycle.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2026

[**Link to policy**](https://emorywheel.com/emory-remains-test-optional-for-2024-25-admission-cycle/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Emory University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Emory University has extended its test-optional policy for prospective first year & transfer students applying through the 2024-25 admission cycle

**Latest fall entry year:** 2025

[**Link to policy**](https://emorywheel.com/emory-remains-test-optional-for-2024-25-admission-cycle/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Harvard University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Required

**Policy Details:** Harvard College will require the submission of standardized test scores from applicants for admission as part of the comprehensive application process that takes a whole-student approach.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2024

[**Link to policy**](https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/application-requirements)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Johns Hopkins University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Required for first-year applicants; Test Optional for transfer applicants

**Policy Details:** Johns Hopkins University requires first-year applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores to be considered for admission. Transfer applicants are not required to submit SAT or ACT scores.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2026

[**Link to policy**](https://apply.jhu.edu/how-to-apply/application-deadlines-requirements/standardized-testing/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Required

**Policy Details:** SAT or the ACT for both prospective first year and transfer students. Eli Whitney Students Program: SAT and ACT scores are optional. Standardized test results shared with the admissions office will be taken into consideration in the application review process, but these test results are not required.

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://mitadmissions.org/apply/firstyear/tests-scores/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Occidental College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Occidental does not require standardized testing for first-year or transfer applicants. This policy is permanent; there is no plan to return to standardized testing requirements for any future entry term.

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.oxy.edu/admission-aid/apply/test-optional-admission-policy)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Pomona College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Students applying to Pomona College will no longer be required to provide standardized testing scores for admission. Pomona faculty voted to make this policy permanent.

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.pomona.edu/news/2023/11/15-pomona-college-makes-test-optional-admissions-policy-permanent)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Princeton University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Princeton is extending the test optional policy for first-year and transfer applicants for the next three admission cycles (that is, for applications due in the falls of 2023, 2024, and 2025).

**Latest fall entry year:** 2025

[**Link to policy**](https://admission.princeton.edu/apply/standardized-testing)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Smith College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Smith College has been test-optional since 2009 and remains test-optional today.

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.smith.edu/admission-aid/apply-smith/standardized-testing-policy)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Stanford University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Required

**Policy Details:** ACT or SAT scores are required for first-year and transfer students

**Latest fall entry year:** 2025

[**Link to policy**](https://admission.stanford.edu)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Swarthmore College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Swarthmore is extending our test-optional policy for students applying for fall 2023, fall 2024 and fall 2025 entry

**Latest fall entry year:** 2025

[**Link to policy**](https://www.swarthmore.edu/admissions-aid/standardized-testing-policy)

</details>

<details>

<summary>The Catholic University of America</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Free

**Policy Details:** Five years after making standardized test scores optional for admission to Catholic University, the Office of Undergraduate Admission announces that it will no longer consider test scores; it will be “test-blind.”

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://communications.catholic.edu/news/2020/06/standardized-tests.html)

</details>

<details>

<summary>University of Chicago</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** UChicago is test-optional, which means that we do not require students to share results of the SAT or ACT if you have been unable to test or prefer not to share your scores.

**Latest fall entry year:** Indefinite

[**Link to policy**](https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/contact/frequently-asked-questions)

</details>

<details>

<summary>University of Michigan</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Students applying for admission for the winter 2025 academic term and beyond continue to have the choice of whether to submit standardized test scores as part of their application.

**Latest fall entry year:** Indefinite

[**Link to policy**](https://record.umich.edu/articles/u-m-formally-adopts-test-optional-admissions-policy/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>University of Notre Dame</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** The University of Notre Dame’s Enrollment Division has announced that the University will remain test-optional for undergraduate applicants through the 2025 application year.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2025

[**Link to policy**](https://admissions.nd.edu/visit-engage/stories-news/notre-dame-to-extend-test-optional-practice/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>University of South Carolina</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Students applying for freshman admission to the University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus will not be required to submit standardized SAT or ACT scores through the spring, summer or fall 2024 terms.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2024

[**Link to policy**](https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/undergraduate_admissions/apply/for_freshmen/index.php)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Vassar College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Vassar College will no longer require applicants to submit SAT or ACT test scores when they apply for admission

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.vassar.edu/news/vassar-makes-test-optional-policy-permanent-applicants)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Villanova University </summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Villanova University remains test-optional for applicants through the 2025-26 admission campaign.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2026

[**Link to policy**](https://www1.villanova.edu/university/undergraduate-admission/applying-to-villanova/first-year-applicants.html)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Wesleyan University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Wesleyan does not require most students to submit SAT or ACT scores as part of the application for admission, a permanent policy waiving the test score requirement that has been in effect since the 2020–2021 application cycle

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/application-process.html)

</details>

<details>

<summary>William &#x26; Mary</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Our admission review process is based on a comprehensive, holistic approach that considers multiple factors in making decisions. A test-optional policy provides students with additional ownership in the process by allowing them to decide whether or not they wish for SAT/ACT scores to be included as part of their application review.

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/how-to-apply/freshmanapplicants/standardizedtesting/test-optional-faq/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Williams College</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** All students applying for entry through the fall of 2025 may choose whether to submit SAT/ACT exam results

**Latest fall entry year:** 2026

[**Link to policy**](https://www.williams.edu/admission-aid/apply/first-year/)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Xavier University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Optional

**Policy Details:** Xavier University offers test-optional admission. It is your choice to include ACT or SAT scores as part of your application

**Latest fall entry year:** Permanent

[**Link to policy**](https://www.xavier.edu/undergraduate-admission/admission-process/test-optional)

</details>

<details>

<summary>Yale University</summary>

**Admissions Testing Policy:** Test Flexible (1st Yr) // Test Optional (EWSP)

**Policy Details:** Yale requires all first-year and transfer applicants to submit standardized test scores. Applicants will choose which scores to include from four options: ACT, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), SAT.&#x20;

For Eli Whitney applicants: SAT and ACT scores are optional. Standardized test results shared with the admissions office will be taken into consideration in the application review process, but these test results are not required.

**Latest fall entry year:** 2024

[**Link to policy**](https://admissions.yale.edu/standardized-testing)

</details>
