CampusPin Glossary
Test-required
An admissions policy that requires SAT or ACT scores from every applicant. After the COVID-era pause, several elite schools reinstated this in 2024–2025.
Test-required policies mandate SAT or ACT scores from every applicant. As of fall 2025, schools that have returned to test-required include Dartmouth, MIT, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Caltech, Stanford, Cornell, Penn, Georgetown, and the U.S. service academies. The trend is reversing slowly — applicants in 2026+ should verify each school's current policy directly, since announcements are still rolling.
See also
Test-optional
An admissions policy under which applicants choose whether to submit SAT or ACT scores. Scores still help when strong but don't hurt when omitted.
Test-blind
An admissions policy under which SAT/ACT scores are NOT considered, even if submitted. The University of California system is the largest test-blind block.
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