SAT and ACT Policies and Score Ranges for Popular Colleges and Universities (2026)
Quick Answer
For the 2026 cycle, almost all Ivy League schools will need testing once more. No matter what you send the UC and Cal State systems, they still refuse to look at a score. Everywhere else is in the middle: tests are typically necessary in practice for merit scholarships, nursing, engineering, or an honors institution, but they are optional on paper. Before you apply, see the admissions page of the school. Most summers, policies change, therefore it's not safe to assume that a rule from the previous year will apply this year.
Key Takeaways
- Testing requirements fall into three categories: test required, test optional (including temporary and conditional variants), and test blind/test free.
- In 2024, Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown abandoned their test-optional policies, and the majority of the Ivy League followed suit. Almost all applicants must retake the test.
- Every Cal State campus is test blind, as are Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis, UCSB, UC Irvine, and the whole UC system. Even if you submit a score, it is not reviewed.
- Test blindness is not the same as test optional. If you transmit a score, test-optional colleges still read it, and many of them need it for merit aid.
- Submitting a strong score at test-optional colleges is often advantageous for NRI and international applicants. The score is one of the few things admissions personnel can measure directly in the absence of a U.S. high school GPA.
On This Page
- Understanding the Three Testing Policy Types
- SAT & ACT Score Submission Decision Tool
- Ivy League and Top-10 Testing Policies
- Top 20 National Universities
- University of California System (Test Blind)
- Popular Public Flagship Universities
- Private Universities Popular with NRI Families
- State-by-State Testing Policy Snapshot
- NRI-Specific Guidance
- Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding the Three Testing Policy Types
News coverage tends to throw these three labels around loosely. Here's what each one really requires before you start comparing schools.
| Policy Type | What It Means | Should You Submit a Score? |
|---|---|---|
| Test Required | SAT or ACT scores must be submitted as part of a complete application. | Yes, mandatory. |
| Test Optional | Scores are reviewed if submitted but are not required for admission. May still be required for merit scholarships, honors programs, or specific majors. | Submit if your score is at or above the school's published 50th percentile. |
| Test Blind / Test Free | The school will not consider SAT or ACT scores under any circumstance, even if submitted. | No, submitting has no effect on your application. |
Many of these "test optional" rules are not permanent; rather, they are renewed one admissions cycle at a time. Check which cycle a policy applies to before relying on something you read two years ago because it might already be out of date.
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SAT & ACT Score Submission Decision Tool
Should You Submit Your SAT or ACT Score?
Enter the college policy, your score, and the published middle-50% range to receive a practical submission recommendation.
Important: This tool offers planning guidance, not an admission guarantee. Always confirm the current-cycle policy, scholarship rules, superscoring rules, and program-specific requirements on the college's official admissions page.
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Ivy League and Top-10 Testing Policies
Since 2024, most of the Ivy League has walked back the test optional experiment that started in 2020. Below are the current policies and mid-50% ranges for all eight Ivies, plus Stanford and MIT since they get compared to the Ivies constantly anyway.
| School | Policy | SAT 25th-75th | ACT 25th-75th | Accept Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Test Required | 1520-1570 | 35-36 | ~4% |
| Harvard College | Test Required | 1500-1580 | 34-36 | ~3.5% |
| Stanford University | Test Required (from Fall 2026) | 1500-1560 | 34-35 | ~4% |
| Yale University | Test Required | 1500-1560 | 33-35 | ~4.5% |
| Brown University | Test Required | 1510-1560 | 34-35 | ~5% |
| Dartmouth College | Test Required | 1500-1560 | 34-35 | ~6% |
| Cornell University | Test Required (from Fall 2026) | 1480-1550 | 33-35 | ~8% |
| Columbia University | Test Optional | 1510-1560 | 34-35 | ~4% |
| University of Pennsylvania | Test Optional | 1500-1570 | 34-35 | ~6.5% |
| Princeton University | Test Optional | 1510-1570 | 34-35 | ~5.7% |
Columbia and Princeton are the holdouts. Neither has gone back to required testing yet, though both revisit the decision every year. "Ivy League" doesn't mean one uniform policy, whatever the general assumption might be.
Top 20 National Universities
| School | Policy | SAT 25th-75th | ACT 25th-75th | Accept Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke University | Test Optional | 1490-1560 | 33-35 | ~6% |
| Northwestern University | Test Optional | 1500-1560 | 33-35 | ~7% |
| Johns Hopkins University | Test Optional | 1530-1560 | 34-35 | ~6% |
| University of Chicago | Test Optional | — | — | ~5% |
| Vanderbilt University | Test Optional | 1500-1560 | 34-35 | ~6% |
| Rice University | Test Optional | — | — | ~8% |
| University of Notre Dame | Test Optional | 1440-1540 | 32-35 | ~12% |
| Georgetown University | Test Required | 1390-1530 | 32-34 | ~13% |
| Carnegie Mellon University | Test Optional | 1500-1570 | 34-35 | ~11% |
| University of Southern California | Test Optional | 1460-1540 | 32-35 | ~12% |
| Washington University in St. Louis | Test Optional | 1500-1570 | 33-35 | ~12% |
| California Institute of Technology | Test Required | — | — | ~3% |
University of California System (Test Blind)
Every UC campus dropped SAT and ACT scores from admissions years ago, and nothing suggests that's changing anytime soon. A score can't help you here, and it can't hurt you either. If a UC is on the list, that prep time is better spent on GPA, coursework rigor, and the Personal Insight Questions.
| Campus | Policy | Accept Rate |
|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | Test Blind | ~12% |
| UCLA | Test Blind | ~9% |
| UC San Diego | Test Blind | ~25% |
| UC Irvine | Test Blind | ~21% |
| UC Santa Barbara | Test Blind | ~28% |
| UC Davis | Test Blind | ~42% |
| UC Santa Cruz | Test Blind | ~61% |
| UC Riverside | Test Blind | ~70% |
| UC Merced | Test Blind | ~89% |
Popular Public Flagship Universities
| School | Policy | SAT 25th-75th | ACT 25th-75th | Accept Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Texas—Austin | Test Required | — | — | ~29% |
| University of Georgia | Test Required | 1230-1410 | 27-32 | ~37% |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | Test Required | 1330-1510 | 28-34 | ~16% |
| University of Florida | Test Required | 1320-1470 | 28-33 | ~23% |
| Florida State University | Test Required | 1250-1380 | 27-31 | ~25% |
| University of Michigan—Ann Arbor | Test Optional | 1350-1530 | 31-34 | ~18% |
| University of Virginia | Test Optional | 1400-1540 | 32-34 | ~19% |
| University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill | Test Optional* | 1360-1510 | 30-34 | ~17% |
| University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign | Test Optional | 1350-1510 | 30-34 | ~44% |
| Purdue University—West Lafayette | Test Required | 1210-1450 | 27-34 | ~50% |
| University of Washington—Seattle | Test Optional | 1280-1490 | 30-34 | ~43% |
| Ohio State University—Columbus | Test Optional | — | — | ~53% |
| Pennsylvania State University—University Park | Test Optional | 1230-1390 | 27-32 | ~54% |
| Rutgers University—New Brunswick | Test Optional | 1270-1460 | 28-33 | ~66% |
| University of Maryland—College Park | Test Optional | 1380-1510 | 32-35 | ~45% |
| University of Massachusetts—Amherst | Test Optional | 1310-1460 | 29-33 | ~58% |
| Texas A&M University—College Station | Test Optional | 1150-1370 | 25-31 | ~63% |
| Indiana University—Bloomington | Test Optional | 1180-1380 | 27-32 | ~80% |
| Arizona State University | Test Optional* | — | — | ~90% |
| University of Arizona | Test Optional | 1150-1350 | 21-28 | ~86% |
The asterisk means test optional with strings attached, usually a minimum GPA.
Private Universities Popular with NRI Families
These are the mid-to-large private schools that come up again and again in NRI family searches, mostly because of their STEM and business programs and the size of their Indian-American alumni base.
| School | Policy | SAT 25th-75th | ACT 25th-75th | Accept Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York University | Test Optional | 1480-1550 | 33-35 | 9% |
| Boston University | Test Optional | 1410-1500 | 32-34 | 11% |
| Northeastern University | Test Optional | 1460-1530 | 33-35 | 6% |
| Case Western Reserve University | Test Optional | 1440-1530 | 32-35 | 29% |
| Stevens Institute of Technology | Test Optional* | 1380-1490 | 31-34 | 43% |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Test Optional | 1370-1490 | 31-34 | 59% |
| Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Test Free | — | — | 59% |
| Illinois Institute of Technology | Test Optional | 1190-1400 | 25-31 | ~55% |
| Southern Methodist University | Test Optional | 1340-1470 | 30-34 | ~61% |
State-by-State Testing Policy Snapshot
Planning around a specific state? Here's the short version for ten states where we see the most search volume from U.S. and NRI households alike.
UC system: test blind. Cal State system: test blind.
UT Austin: required. Most other publics: optional or conditional.
SUNY schools: mostly test optional.
Rutgers: test optional. Princeton: test optional.
UF, FSU, USF, UCF: all test required.
UGA, Georgia Tech: required. Several USG schools: conditional optional.
UIUC: test optional. Most Illinois publics: optional.
UVA: optional. William & Mary: optional.
UW Seattle: test optional.
Most private universities: test optional (temporary, renewed annually).
NRI-Specific Guidance on Testing Policies
If you're applying from outside the U.S., or your student is coming out of CBSE, ICSE, IB, or an American curriculum school in the Gulf, a submitted score usually matters more than it does for a domestic applicant. It's one of the only numbers an admissions officer can compare directly across grading systems that don't otherwise line up. Score above the 50th percentile at a test optional school, and it's worth sending. At schools that require testing outright, most of the current Ivy League, MIT, Georgetown, there's no getting around it no matter where your student went to high school. The one real exception is the UC system, where a great score simply doesn't move the needle either way.
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Take a Free Digital SAT Practice TestFrequently Asked Questions
Which Ivy League schools require SAT or ACT scores in 2026?
Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, and Cornell require scores from nearly all applicants this cycle. Columbia and Princeton haven't gone back to required testing yet. Every school revisits this annually, so check directly with the admissions office before you apply.
Do the University of California campuses accept SAT or ACT scores?
No. Every UC campus, UCLA and Berkeley included, is test blind. SAT and ACT scores aren't considered for admission or scholarships, even if a student sends them in.
Is test optional the same as test blind?
No. Test optional means the school will look at a score if you send one but won't ask for it. Test blind, sometimes called test free, means the school won't look at a score at all, submitted or not.
Should NRI students submit SAT or ACT scores to test optional schools?
Usually yes, if the score is at or above the school's published 50th percentile. A lot of test optional schools still require a score for merit money, and leaving one out often reads as weaker than it really is, which hits international and NRI applicants hardest since they don't have a directly comparable GPA to fall back on.