Is the SAT optional for fall 2027? School by school

Required means your file is not complete without an SAT (the College Board's admission test) or ACT (the admission test first called American College Testing) score. Georgia puts it bluntly: there is no test optional pathway, and no flexibility under University System of Georgia guidelines. Most of the 32 such schools on this site are selective private universities or public ones in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

Optional means you decide whether the school sees a score, and every optional school we read says leaving it out costs nothing. Duke: students who apply without scores will not be at a disadvantage.

Blind, which the site's pages call not considered, means the school ignores a score even if you send it; the University of California and the California State University are the big examples. In between, UNC Chapel Hill (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Alabama make a score optional above a GPA line and required below it, and Rice recommends one without requiring it.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) requires the SAT (the College Board's admission test) or ACT (the admission test first called American College Testing) and was the first to go back. When it reinstated the requirement in 2022 it said its research shows the tests help it assess academic preparedness and identify academically prepared, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, and that a requirement is more equitable and transparent than a test-optional policy. Stanford, optional for the class that entered in 2025, now says scores are required because testing can highlight academic preparedness, with no minimum score. Penn requires scores for more insight into academic preparation, with a waiver for hardship. Brown went back after a three-year review of its data, citing clarity and consistency.

Harvard requires the SAT or ACT, and only where the tests are not accessible accepts AP (Advanced Placement), IB (International Baccalaureate) or national leaving exam results instead. Yale says all first-year and transfer applicants must include scores from the ACT or SAT. Cornell's answer covers everyone applying to enroll for fall 2026 or beyond: all its undergraduate colleges require scores. Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Caltech require them too.

At public universities the reason is usually the state system. Tennessee says all its campuses now require the ACT or SAT. Georgia follows minimums set by the Board of Regents: 480 reading and writing and 440 math on the SAT, or 17 English or reading and 17 math on the ACT. Georgia Tech, Ohio State's Columbus campus and Auburn all say a file is incomplete without a score. The University of Texas at Austin wants at least one official score and accepts a CLT (Classic Learning Test) instead. Florida State says at least one score must arrive before its materials deadline. Florida's freshman page says you may self-report scores, and its deadlines page adds that if official scores are not received by May 1 you are not eligible to enroll, so a score is required in practice. Purdue requires a score too: its criteria page lists SAT, ACT or CLT (Classic Learning Test) scores among its factors, allows only exceptional cases without one, and 98 percent of admitted students sent one. Tuskegee and Hampton require one as well, Hampton unless you have a 3.6 unweighted GPA or a top 10 percent class rank.

The regents decided in 2020 that UC (University of California) will not consider SAT (the College Board's admission test) or ACT (the admission test first called American College Testing) scores when making admissions decisions or awarding Regents and Chancellor's scholarships. The one use left is eligibility for the statewide admissions guarantee or course placement after you enroll. UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) says it on its own page: it will not consider scores for admission or scholarship purposes.

The site's pages list 16 universities that do not consider scores: eight University of California campuses, five California State University campuses (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Diego State and San Jose State), Boise State, the University of San Diego and Washington State. Long Beach and San Diego State say so on their own pages; the California State University system page and the Fullerton, San Jose and Cal Poly pages refused our request or do not state the policy, so those three keep FairTest's value. Alaska Fairbanks, once on this list, says scores are not required rather than not considered, so it is listed as optional. At these schools a strong score cannot help you and a weak one cannot hurt you; your grades carry the whole decision.

The optional schools draw the line in different places. Duke is test-optional for 2026-27 and says the decision to have your SAT (the College Board's admission test) or ACT (the admission test first called American College Testing) considered is entirely yours. Vanderbilt stays optional for fall 2027 and 2028 entry, then requires scores from fall 2029. Rice recommends scores if available, gives full consideration without them, and warns that once you opt in to score consideration you cannot opt out. The University of Southern California, Northeastern and Northwestern are optional with no conditions, New York University says testing is optional for the upcoming application term, and Texas A&M says you can choose to send official scores. Arizona State does not require scores; a score is one of four ways to meet its aptitude rule, alongside class rank or GPA.

A dozen schools make the choice depend on your grades, and the site's page for each one says so. The UNC (University of North Carolina) System rule covers UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina State, UNC Charlotte, North Carolina A&T, Appalachian State and East Carolina: a score is optional with a weighted GPA of 2.8 or above, and below that you must send an ACT of 17 or an SAT of 930 or higher. Alabama requires a score for 2027 entry only if your GPA is below 3.0 and will require one from everyone for 2028; Alabama at Birmingham draws its line at 3.5, LSU (Louisiana State University) at 3.5, Arkansas at 3.2, and Ole Miss at 3.2 for nonresidents. Texas State asks for scores only from applicants outside the top 75 percent of their class. Carnegie Mellon decides college by college: computer science requires a score, the fine arts college does not.

Does a score help? No school says a submitted score can hurt you, and nearly all superscore, taking your best section scores across dates. The honest test is the middle 50 percent range on each school's page on this site (ranges from the College Scorecard, for the students who enrolled; policy from the school's own page, read on October 23, 2026). Duke's enrolled students sit between 1500 and 1570 on the SAT and 34 and 35 on the ACT; Alabama's between 1170 and 1400 and 24 and 31. A score inside or above the range tells the reader something good; one well below it tells them nothing they need.

Admission and money are decided by different offices, and the money often still wants a number. Alabama's automatic merit scholarships are awarded on test scores and GPA; students must submit scores to be eligible, and only an official ACT (the admission test first called American College Testing) composite or SAT (the College Board's admission test) total from a single test date counts, with no superscoring for scholarships. Students without a score stay eligible for its competitive scholarships. Florida State says admitted students without a test score are not eligible for first-year merit scholarships. Tennessee accepts only tests taken through December 2026 for admission and merit scholarships, and Auburn uses your best result for both.

The other direction exists too. The University of Southern California says it has never awarded merit aid on formulas or cut-offs for test scores or GPA, and the University of California does not use scores for its Regents and Chancellor's scholarships. If a page does not say, ask the scholarship office, not admissions.

From the College Board's own calendar, the SAT (the College Board's admission test) dates left this cycle are December 5, 2026 (register by November 20, or by November 24 with a late fee), and March 6, May 1 and June 5, 2027. From the ACT's own list, the ACT (the admission test first called American College Testing) dates left are December 12, 2026 (register by November 6, or by November 29 with a late fee), February 27, 2027 (register by January 22), and April 10, June 12 and July 10, 2027.

Which of those a school will use depends on its round. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Caltech want the tests taken before November 30 for early action and before December 31 for regular decision. For early decision, Penn's last eligible dates (the November 7 SAT and October 17 ACT) have passed; for regular decision they are the December 5 SAT and December 12 ACT. Harvard accepts regular decision scores from as late as February. Tennessee accepts only tests taken through December 2026, and Florida State says February scores are the last it can use. Ohio State must receive scores by your application deadline, November 1 for early action, and Georgia wants scores requested by its deadline because the agencies take days to weeks to deliver them.

Twenty-one of the 215 schools could not be read on their own sites on October 23, 2026 and keep FairTest's value for 2026-27: Michigan, Columbia, Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Virginia, New York University, Fordham, Massachusetts Amherst, West Virginia, Brandeis, George Washington, Gonzaga, Williams, Amherst, Oklahoma State, Prairie View A&M, Fullerton and San Jose State refused or served nothing; Chicago's pages returned no text; Cal Poly's pages do not state a policy; Jackson State's page names only earlier years. Texas A&M's admissions site returned not found for every page, so its one line comes from the university's main site. New York University's page answered when we tried it again on October 30, 2026: it says standardized testing is optional for the upcoming application term. Check the others yourself. Every other school above is quoted or closely paraphrased from its own admissions page.