Which Colleges Require the SAT in 2026?
The short answer
The test-optional era is ending at the top. As of June 2026, the SAT or ACT is required again at most of the country's most selective colleges, and every school that paused its requirement during the pandemic has now either brought it back or announced that it will. The headline event: on June 12, 2026, Columbia became the last Ivy League school to commit to reinstating a testing requirement, closing the book on test-optional admissions across all eight Ivies.
For a student applying this coming fall, that means a strong score is no longer something you can simply leave off the application at most top schools. If your target is selective, plan to test.
Read this first: policies change often
The rest of this article reflects each school's published policy as of June 2026. Testing policies have shifted repeatedly since 2020, and a few of the schools below phase their requirement in over different years. Before you rely on any single line here, confirm the current rule on that school's own official admissions page. Treat this as an accurate snapshot and a starting point, not a substitute for the source.
It also helps to keep three different policies straight, because they are easy to confuse:
- Test-required: you must submit an SAT or ACT score.
- Test-optional: you may submit a score, and it is considered if you do.
- Test-blind (also called test-free): scores are not considered at all, even if you send them.
The Ivy League
All eight Ivies have now ended test-optional admissions. Six already require a score for the upcoming 2026-27 application cycle. Princeton and Columbia have announced the requirement but remain test-optional for that cycle, with the requirement taking effect the following year, so a student applying to them one cycle later will need a score.
| School | Policy for the 2026-27 cycle | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard | Required | In effect since the Class of 2029 |
| Yale | Required | Resumed after a brief test-flexible period |
| Brown | Required | In effect since the Class of 2029 |
| Dartmouth | Required | In effect since the Class of 2029 |
| Cornell | Required | Reinstated for fall 2026 entry and beyond |
| Penn | Required | Reinstated for the 2025-26 cycle |
| Princeton | Test-optional this cycle | Requirement begins with the 2027-28 cycle |
| Columbia | Test-optional this cycle | Requirement begins with the 2027-28 cycle |
Beyond the Ivies
The same reversal has swept the rest of the most selective set. The following schools all require an SAT or ACT score from first-year applicants:
| School | Policy |
|---|---|
| MIT | Required |
| Caltech | Required |
| Stanford | Required (Class of 2030 onward) |
| Georgetown | Required (never adopted a test-optional policy) |
| Johns Hopkins | Required |
| UT Austin | Required |
| Georgia Tech | Required |
| University of Florida | Required |
The exceptions still worth knowing
Not every selective school has moved. Two cases show the other end of the spectrum:
- Duke remains test-optional for the 2026-27 cycle. You may submit scores and they will be considered, but you are not required to. Duke is a reminder that the reversal, while broad, is not universal.
- The entire University of California system is test-free (test-blind). UC does not consider SAT or ACT scores in admissions at all, even if you send them. That is a categorically different policy from test-optional, and it applies across every UC campus, including Berkeley and UCLA.
What this means for you
The practical takeaway is simple. If a school on your list requires a score, a strong one is now mandatory rather than optional, so it has to be part of your plan from the start. And even at schools that remain test-optional, most admitted students at selective colleges submit scores anyway, so a good result still helps and a missing one can quietly hurt.
That raises the stakes on the math section in particular, where the top schools expect numbers near the ceiling. If the Ivy League is your target, the bar is high and specific: see what SAT Math score you need for the Ivy League, and for a sense of how strong a single benchmark really is, is a 770 a good SAT Math score. The encouraging part is that SAT Math is a closed, learnable domain. A student who understands why each method works can reach the top of the scale with deliberate practice, which matters more now that the score is no longer optional.
References
- Columbia Daily Spectator, Columbia becomes last Ivy to reinstate standardized test score requirement (June 12, 2026)
- Higher Ed Dive, Columbia reinstates SAT, ACT requirements for 2027-28
- Princeton University, Standardized Testing (official admissions policy)
- Harvard University, Harvard announces return to required testing (Harvard Gazette)
- Yale University, Standardized Testing (official admissions policy)
- Brown University, Brown to reinstate test requirement (official announcement)
- Dartmouth College, Dartmouth's Testing Guidelines (official admissions policy)
- Cornell University, Cornell to reinstate standardized test requirements for fall 2026 (Cornell Chronicle)
- University of Pennsylvania, Penn reinstates standardized testing for undergraduate admissions (Penn Today)
- MIT, Tests & scores (official admissions policy)
- Caltech, Standardized Tests (official undergraduate admissions policy)
- Stanford University, Stanford to resume standardized test requirement (Stanford Report)
- Georgetown University, Office of Undergraduate Admissions (official testing policy)
- Johns Hopkins University, Return to standardized test requirement (JHU Hub)
- University of Texas at Austin, UT Austin reinstates standardized test scores in admissions
- Georgia Tech, Standardized Tests (official undergraduate admissions policy)
- University of Florida, Freshman Requirements (official admissions policy)
- Duke University, Apply (official undergraduate admissions, test-optional)
- University of California, First-year requirements (test-free admissions policy)
- Compass Education Group, Testing Policies in the Spotlight (tracker)