Berkeley² Academy

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

As the college admissions process enters the second year of the covid-19 pandemic, you may be wondering if colleges plan on extending their test-optional policies after the Fall 2021 admissions period. Students applying to Rice University for entry in 2022 will not be required to submit SAT or ACT for admission consideration.

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Tex Admissions

MARCH 12, 2024

All Fall 2025 freshman applicants must submit an official SAT or ACT directly from the testing agency to be eligible for admission. Most universities went test-optional during COVID, but many universities are reverting to pre-COVID policies as we exit the pandemic. The ACT has June and July testing dates though.

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Shemmassian Academic Consulting

JULY 9, 2023

This became especially true in 2020, given changes in test administration and colleges’ testing policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If your child is applying to colleges this cycle, or in the next year or two, you may be wondering which colleges are adopting test-optional policies—a trend that is increasing nationwide.

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Top Tier Admissions

APRIL 6, 2023

This year’s admissions cycle featured a test-optional policy for first-year and transfer applicants, continuing a policy first implemented during the 2020-21 admissions cycle due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January, Penn Admissions announced the extension of the test-optional policy through the 2023-24 admissions cycle.

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BestColleges

MARCH 13, 2024

The University of Texas at Austin will require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores beginning next fall. The university went test-optional in 2020 because of the pandemic. Like hundreds of other colleges, UT Austin went test-optional in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Elite Open School

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

Thursday, May 21, 2020, was a momentous day in the history of the University of California. On that day, the University of California Board of Regents (the governing and policy-making body for the entire UC system) unanimously passed UC President Janet Napolitano's proposal to eliminate the SAT and ACT as a requirement on the UC application.

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SSA Online College Prep

APRIL 26, 2022

Stu Schmill (the head of admissions at MIT) discusses the importance of lifting the test-optional policy ! Regardless of the arguments against SAT and ACT requirements, these exams are necessary for low SES students. For students applying in 2020 and 2021, this was a relief and took some pressure off an already stressful process.

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Top Tier Admissions

JUNE 28, 2023

Sobering data released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicates a sharp drop in math skills among 13-year-olds, scoring on average, 9 points lower than they did in 2020—the lowest achievement in decades. While education policy leaders are calling for nationwide reform, what can YOU do now? Lean into your strengths.

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BestColleges

MARCH 20, 2024

According to Ben Paris , former Kaplan curriculum director and test prep expert with over 25 years of experience, there are two important ways that an SAT or ACT score can be bad. However, a recent study conducted by Harvard University-based research group Opportunity Insights has administrators rethinking their test-optional policies.

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BestColleges

APRIL 15, 2024

On April 11, Harvard College announced it would require applicants for the class of 2029 — applying in fall 2024 — to submit SAT or ACT scores. Like many colleges, Harvard suspended its standardized test requirement when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. Until recently, Caltech remained defiantly proud of its anti-test stance.

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Top Tier Admissions

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Test-optional policies brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic account for the highly competitive 2020-21 admissions cycle. Princeton announced its test-optional policy in the summer of 2020 and has since renewed the policy into the 2022-23 admissions cycle (for admission to the Class of 2027).

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Top Tier Admissions

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

As of this morning, Yale is the second Ivy League school to require standardized test scores, following Dartmouth’s lead and citing research that test-optional policies adversely affect high-scoring low-income students. This new policy will begin with students applying to enter in the fall of 2025.

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Standardized Testing Testing Ivy League University 59

Top Tier Admissions

JUNE 14, 2024

Since 2020, the university has experienced a 25% increase in total applications. The Class of 2028 had an SAT middle 50th percentile of 1430-1530 and an ACT middle 50th percentile of 33-35. Southern Ivies: Class of 2028 Acceptance Rates Standardized Testing Policies: A Shifting Landscape What Are the Little Ivies?

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AdmissionSight

DECEMBER 4, 2024

2020 38,918 9.4% A big reason for this surge is the rise of test-optional policies and increased global access to higher education. 2020 33,156 7% 2019 31,778 7.5% 2021 6,147 22% 2020 5,762 23.2% Think 1550+ on the SAT or 35 on the ACT. paired with an SAT score of 1570+ or an ACT score of 35+. 2027 59,465 5.9%

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Top Tier Admissions

JANUARY 21, 2025

The University of Miami has announced a significant policy update for prospective students. Starting with the Fall 2026 application cycle, undergraduate applicants will once again be required to submit standardized test scores (SAT or ACT) as part of their application. ENROLL NOW What Does This Mean for College Admissions?

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Elite Open School

APRIL 1, 2020

The University of California announced today that it has “temporarily relaxed some undergraduate admissions policies” for the fall 2021 freshman class so that “students are not penalized by their inability to earn letter grades for academic classes or take standardized tests during the COVID-19 pandemic.” You can read UC’s response at [link].

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College Essay Guy

MARCH 13, 2023

Students must choose between taking the ACT or SAT before they can take their next steps on the journey of higher education. For most students, the answer to questions like “what is the difference between ACT and SAT?” TABLE OF CONTENTS (click to skip ahead) What is the ACT? What is on the ACT test? How long is the ACT?

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Top Tier Admissions

APRIL 20, 2023

More applications to top schools (driven by test-optional policies) and a clear commitment to a diverse incoming class. He went on to state “the students demonstrated their values in both the community service they performed and their acts of kindness to each other.” The major trends? But not everyone is smashing records.

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Acceptance Ivy League Financial Aid Policies 84

The Koppelman Group

MARCH 1, 2024

In the last few weeks, both Dartmouth and Yale have decided to end the test-optional policies they adopted during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. Since adopting test-optional, a lot of schools started extending their policies out by years or even indefinitely (like Michigan). And schools love this.

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Testing Ivy League Standardized Testing Policies 52

Top Tier Admissions

APRIL 19, 2024

BROWN’S CHANGING ADMISSIONS POLICIES Brown University announced in early March that it would once again require students applying for fall 2025 admission to submit either a SAT or ACT score. The number of student veterans on campus has roughly doubled since 2019. It is filled with trustees and faculty members.

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BestColleges

AUGUST 27, 2024

Students applying in fall 2025 must submit SAT or ACT scores, while those applying this fall are encouraged to do so. The decision follows similar policy changes at Ivy League colleges. Like many universities, Hopkins went test-optional in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited access to testing facilities.

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Top Tier Admissions

APRIL 23, 2024

Most recently, Harvard reversed course in an April 11 announcement that it would require students applying for fall 2025 admission to submit either an SAT or ACT score. Brooks School of Public Policy and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations but encourages applicants to submit SAT and/or ACT scores.

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Standardized Testing Testing Ivy League Policies 52

Admissions Village

FEBRUARY 25, 2024

This week, Yale announced that they will require testing but that they are flexible on which type of testing, SAT, ACT, AP, or IB exam score. Yale has said if you want to submit AP scores in lieu of SAT or ACT scores they would like to see all of them. Perhaps not surprisingly, demand for SAT and ACT testing has been rising.

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College Kickstart

APRIL 19, 2020

We’ve enhanced our test-optional recommendation engine to help you better handle the growing list of schools going test-blind for the 2020-21 admission cycle. Entering 2020, less than five institutions in our coverage universe were test-blind. For example, let’s say you’ve got a 33 ACT, 4.18 That’s it!

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Top Tier Admissions

JANUARY 13, 2023

A staggering 61,220 students applied in the 2021-22 application cycle, a significant rise from the 57,435 who applied in the 2020-21 cycle, which represented a 42.7% Pandemic-era test-optional policies account for the highly competitive 2021-22 admissions cycle. increase over the 40,248 students who applied in the 2019-20 cycle.

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AdmissionSight

JANUARY 1, 2025

2020 31,484 7.9% UChicago Early Decision policy Both ED I and ED II are binding. Target test scores UChicago is test-optional , so you dont have to submit SAT or ACT scores. Shooting for a 1560 SAT score (or 35 ACT score) can help your case. 2027 38,631 4.8% 2026 37,522 5.4% 2025 37,977 6.5% 2024 34,372 7.3%

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BestColleges

MARCH 6, 2023

Students who do not submit ACT and SAT scores will not be at a disadvantage. Testing policies remain the same for students who wish to submit scores. Students who don't want to take the SAT or ACT have as good a chance at getting into Columbia University and William & Mary (W&M) as any other applicant.

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the college spy

OCTOBER 1, 2021

In lieu of requiring students to take and report scores for the SAT or ACT, colleges have three choices. Test flexible colleges require some form of assessment but it doesn’t have to be the SAT or ACT. Are test optional admissions policies new? Why have so many colleges stopped requiring the SAT or ACT?

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Admissions Village

DECEMBER 1, 2022

According to the Higher Education Research Institute’s Freshman Survey in 2020, 68.10% of first-year students at 4-year universities had an A or A- average in high school. Stuart Schmill, the Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services at MIT, did a Q&A on MIT’s decision to reinstate their SAT/ACT requirement.

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The Ivy Dean

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

Although only time will tell which impacts are permanent and which are only temporary, I am certain that college admissions ­– like many things – will never return to precisely the way it was before 2020. Standardized testing may eventually become a thing of the past. Standardized testing may eventually become a thing of the past.

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Tex Admissions

MARCH 21, 2022

If you’re outside of the top 6%, I suggest submitting your SAT/ACT if it’s higher than 28 or 1350. I have no idea how test-optional policies may affect the Academic Index calculations that accounts for students opting out of the ACT/SAT. It seems that UT’s test-optional policy applies to admissions, honors, and scholarships.

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Princeton College Consulting

APRIL 21, 2020

Nobody knows how this pandemic will evolve or when it will end, so colleges and organizations that deal with college admissions are continually updating policies and timelines. The ACT’s April 4 test date has been rescheduled for June 13 (watch closely for updates however). students by late fall or early winter 2020.

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DC College Counseling

JANUARY 12, 2024

Some schools have instituted new policies to address this issue; for example, the University of California system includes a Statement of Application Integrity in which they state that the “UC conducts regular screenings to verify the integrity of the responses” and “may request authentication of the content or writing as the student’s.”

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BestColleges

AUGUST 8, 2024

The launch of the 2024-25 FAFSA has been plagued by a litany of other issues after ED "simplified" the application in response to the 2020 FAFSA Simplification Act. Catherine Brown, senior director of policy and advocacy at the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), similarly celebrated the department's plan.

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Humbach Education Consulting

APRIL 14, 2020

CollegeBoard and ACT have been monitoring the pandemic in an attempt to provide students with options. ACT has tests scheduled for June 13 (rescheduled from April) and July 18. As a result, many colleges have announced they are going to be test optional (at least for the 2020-2021 application year).

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AdmissionSight

DECEMBER 17, 2024

Thats according to a recent analysis of ACT scores. While the pandemic accelerated this decline starting in 2020, the reality is that college readiness has been on a downward trend for over a decade. When spring or summer rolls around, its also a great time to start taking practice tests for the PSAT, ACT, or SAT.

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AdmissionSight

DECEMBER 18, 2024

2020 20,675 10.5% Test-optional policies introduced during the pandemic expanded the applicant pool, bringing in students who might not have applied otherwise. 2020 18,748 9% 2019 18,646 8.8% The Dartmouth acceptance rate for RD has steadily dropped, going from 9% for the Class of 2020 to the 3.8% 2020 1,927 25.6%

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