Test-Optional Colleges and When to Submit Scores

By Muntasir Aug 01, 2026 7 min read

TL;DR

Test-optional means a college lets you choose whether to send SAT or ACT scores, and skipping them brings no penalty. Test-blind schools ignore scores even if you submit them. For Fall 2026, 2,088 of 2,248 ranked four-year US colleges, over 90 percent, are test-optional or test-blind.

The decision rule: submit your score if it sits at or above a school's middle-50 range, withhold it if it sits below. Test-optional does not always cover merit scholarships, and policies change every year, so confirm each school's current rule before you apply.

Test-Optional Colleges and When to Submit Scores

More than 2,000 US colleges do not require SAT or ACT scores for Fall 2026 admission, according to FairTest's ACT/SAT Optional List. Test-optional and test-blind policies now cover most four-year schools, but the label does not mean a score stops mattering everywhere. Each school sets its own rule, and the rule changes from one admissions cycle to the next.

This guide breaks down the difference between test-optional, test-blind and test-flexible policies. It shows you how to find a school's middle-50% admitted score range, and gives you a framework for deciding whether to submit your SAT or ACT score.

Colleges use three different labels for their testing policy, and each one changes what your SAT or ACT score does for your application. FairTest defines the first two terms. Test-flexible is a secondary label some schools use for a related but distinct policy.

Policy	What It Means
Test-Optional	You choose whether to send SAT or ACT scores. Sent scores are considered. Skipped scores bring no penalty, and GPA, coursework, essays and activities carry the decision instead.
Test-Blind (Test-Free)	The school does not consider SAT or ACT scores in admissions at all, even if you send them.
Test-Flexible	The school still requires a standardized score, but you are allowed to substitute AP, IB or another accepted exam for the SAT or ACT. Most Carnegie Mellon programs took this approach for Fall 2026 applicants, while its School of Computer Science required the SAT or ACT and its College of Fine Arts stayed test-optional.

How Many Colleges Are Test-Optional Right Now

The number of test-optional and test-blind schools grows most years, though a handful of schools reverse course. For students enrolling Fall 2026, FairTest counts 2,010+ test-optional schools and 75+ test-free or test-blind schools, a combined 2,085+ institutions with no ACT or SAT requirement. FairTest draws the count from all accredited bachelor's-granting institutions in the US.

A second FairTest count uses a narrower population: ranked four-year colleges and universities only. Of the 2,248 ranked US four-year schools tracked for Fall 2026, 2,088 (over 90 percent) are test-optional or test-blind, according to FairTest's Fall 2026 release. 160 ranked schools still require scores, up from 154 the cycle before, showing the count shifts every cycle. The two totals sit close together, so read each one against its own base.

Here is the year-over-year change on a single base, the ranked four-year schools still requiring a score, both figures taken from the Fall 2026 release.

Admissions Cycle	Ranked Four-Year Schools Requiring ACT or SAT Scores
Fall 2025	154
Fall 2026	160

Research cited by NACAC, covering 28 institutions and roughly 955,774 applicant records, found test-optional policies increased overall applications and grew underrepresented-minority enrollment at about two-thirds of the schools studied, compared with matched test-requiring peers.

Colleges Requiring Scores Again

Not every school stays test-optional. Two colleges name a clear entering class for the first students required to submit ACT or SAT scores.

School	First Entering Class Required to Submit	Detail
Yale	Fall 2027	Announced May 27, 2026: beginning with the next admissions cycle, applicants must submit ACT or SAT scores, so the rule first covers applicants entering Fall 2027. Yale went test-optional in 2020, then moved to a test-flexible policy in 2024, accepting AP or IB results in place of the SAT or ACT. Under test-flexible a standardized score was still required, so the SAT or ACT specifically was substitutable rather than optional. Yale reported 92 percent of the Fall 2026 entering class sent an SAT or ACT score anyway.
Dartmouth	Fall 2025	Announced February 2024, covering students applying in fall 2024.

MIT and Georgetown also require ACT or SAT scores again, per the same Compass Prep tracking. Check each school's own admissions page for the entering class its requirement first covers.

Each reversal shows why a policy from two years ago might no longer apply to a school on your list. Confirm the current rule on the school's own admissions page before you decide whether to submit a score.

Finding a College's Middle 50% Admitted Score Range

A school's middle-50% range shows the SAT or ACT scores of its 25th- to 75th-percentile admitted students, according to Compass Prep. A score at or above the 75th percentile is competitive for the school. A score below the 25th percentile is weak relative to the rest of the applicant pool.

Where to Find the Range

Colleges publish this range in two places.

The Common Data Set (CDS), section C9, which reports 25th- and 75th-percentile SAT and ACT scores for admitted students.
The admissions or class-profile page on the school's own website.

Search for the school's name plus "Common Data Set," or check its admissions office page directly. Use the most recent CDS available, since numbers shift every year.

Decision Framework: Submit or Withhold Your Score

Once you know a school's middle-50% range, comparing it with your own SAT or ACT score tells you what to do.

Submit your score if it sits at or above the school's 75th percentile. It strengthens your application.
Withhold your score if it sits below the school's 25th percentile. The rest of your application carries the decision instead.
Weigh the decision if your score falls inside the range. Look at whether your GPA, coursework rigor, essays and activities stand strong on their own.

Steps to Decide

Run these steps once for your whole college list, school by school.

List every school on your application list.
Pull each school's current middle-50% SAT or ACT range from its Common Data Set or admissions page.
Compare your highest score with the range.
Submit scores to schools where your score sits at or above the 75th percentile.
Withhold scores from schools where your score sits below the 25th percentile.
Repeat the check for every school, since ranges differ from one college to the next.

If you are still deciding which exam fits you, our SAT vs ACT comparison walks through the differences. Once you know which scores to send and where, our score-sending strategy guide covers timing and cost.

Test-Optional and Merit Scholarships

A test-optional admissions policy does not always extend to merit scholarships. Some schools skip a score requirement for general admission but still require one for their top merit awards or honors-program eligibility, according to admissions publisher OnToCollege. Past examples include Loyola University Chicago, Clemson and the University of Oklahoma, though scholarship rules change by cycle.

Contact each school's financial aid or admissions office directly to confirm whether a scholarship you want requires a score. Do not assume a general test-optional policy covers every scholarship the school offers.

Check Each School's Policy Every Year

Testing policy is not a one-time decision a school sets and leaves alone. FairTest recorded 154 schools requiring scores for Fall 2025 and 160 for Fall 2026, a small but real shift in a single cycle. Yale went test-optional in 2020, moved to a test-flexible policy in 2024, and now requires the SAT or ACT starting with applicants entering Fall 2027.

Check these three places for a school's current policy.

The school's own admissions or testing-policy page, the most current source.
The school's Common Data Set, section C9.
FairTest's ACT/SAT Optional List, updated each admissions cycle.

Check the policy again close to your application deadline. A school test-optional last year is allowed to require scores this year, and the reverse holds too.

Once you know which schools need a score, practice under real timing with our free SAT practice tests and ACT practice tests. No signup required.