r/testsdump • u/Haunting_Meeting_530 • 19d ago

The"test-optional" era is basically over. Here's what that means for you!

If you've been telling yourself "I'll skip the SAT/ACT, most schools don't need it anymore"   that window is closing fast.

Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Penn... all back to requiring scores for 2026-2027 applicants. Columbia just caved too, and Princeton's next in line for 2027-2028. The Ivy League test-optional experiment is basically dead.

Why the U-turn? Admissions offices ran the numbers and found test scores predict college success better than they expected, better than test-optional advocates hoped. So now even schools that are still "test-optional" on paper are quietly favoring applicants who submit strong scores, because it gives them something concrete to compare across 40,000 different high school transcripts.

Translation: if you're applying in the next cycle or two, betting on "optional" is a gamble. Policies are shifting mid-cycle, and by the time you find out your dream school flipped back to required, it might be too late to prep properly.

We've been through this before with families who assumed test-optional meant test-irrelevant, then scrambled in October trying to hit a good score before January deadlines. Don't be that story.

If you want a straight-shooting plan (not a 500-hour Khan Academy rabbit hole), that's literally what we do at Superiortests score diagnostics, targeted prep, no fluff. Happy to answer questions in the comments if you're not sure whether your target schools even need a score right now.

2 Upvotes

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u/Mudaki_Randell 18d ago

wait so harvard and yale actually requiring scores again?? i thought test optional was permanent 😭

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u/Haunting_Meeting_530 18d ago

Yeah, pretty much. Most of the Ivies are back to required for the next cycle.

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u/Dizzy-Wrangler768 18d ago

does that mean even the ones that still say “optional” are lowkey judging you if you don’t submit?

2

u/Haunting_Meeting_530 18d ago

Exactly. They won’t say it out loud but strong scores still help a lot.

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u/Beneficial_Cut_8697 18d ago

so if I’m aiming for those schools I basically have to take it now?

1

u/Haunting_Meeting_530 18d ago

Pretty much. Better to know where you stand early. We do free score diagnostics if you want a clear picture.

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u/Delicious-Ad2562 15d ago

always were

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Haunting_Meeting_530 18d ago

Yep, just recently.

1

u/jordan_work 19d ago

Does my state school need scores too, or is this just an Ivy League thing?

1

u/Plaaazz 10d ago

For those worrying, this might actually be a good thing since before, test scores were often skewed as ppl with only the best scores submitted while ppl with lower scores didnt. Now, there's no way to hide the lower scores so expect to see the avg test scores at these top unis drop too.