Watching the Ivy League Become Test-Optional

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Brown, U Penn, Columbia and Dartmouth have made the SAT and ACT optional for their 2020-21 applicants

Given limited availability of standardized testing dates and locales due to impacts of the novel corona virus, students applying to college this upcoming admissions cycle have seen dozens of colleges and universities announce standardized testing policy shifts.

Most of the changes point to a one-year hiatus from requiring SAT or ACT scores, while some schools expand their pilot of test optional programs from one to three years in duration. Still, others have determined that standardized testing results will no longer play a role in evaluating applicants for admission, thereby resulting in test-blind reviews.

Yet, the most noteworthy shift has taken place in the Ivy League as each of the 8 colleges and universities has announced that they will pause requirements of standardized testing scores for students applying to college this fall. The trend started with Cornell declaring their test-optional stance on April 22. June 18 saw Princeton become the most recent and final Ivy to announce a temporary test-optional policy.

SAT Subject Tests will also be optional, with Yale declaring they will disregard subject test scores in their review. Current Ivy League policies for standardized testing can be found here.

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Marla Platt, M.B.A. is an independent college consultant based in Sudbury, MA through AchieveCoach College Consulting, providing expert and personalized guidance to students and families throughout the college planning, search and admissions process. Marla is a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association and NACAC and can be reached via www.achievecoach.com