Colleges That Require the SAT or ACT: The Full List for Classes of 2027, 2028

Columbia University made it unanimous among the “ivies.” With its June 2026 announcement that Columbia College and Columbia Engineering will require standardized test scores beginning with the 2027-28 admissions cycle, it joins the seven other Ivy League schools that now require the SAT or ACT for the high school Class of 2028. Princeton University announced its own return to required testing in October 2025, after a five-year review found that students who submitted scores during the test-optional era performed better academically than students who did not.

That finding is the quiet engine behind this entire trend. Colleges did not reintroduce testing for nostalgia’s sake. They brought it back because their own data told them scores predict success on their campuses.

Our team maintains a running list of every college and university that requires the SAT or ACT, updated as policies change, with thanks to our colleague Cigus Vanni, known to counselors nationwide as "The College Fairy." The version below is current as of July 18, 2026. If your student is a rising senior (Class of 2027) or a rising junior (Class of 2028), this list should shape their testing plan starting now.

Why colleges are bringing back SAT and ACT requirements

Beginning with the 2020-21 cycle, "test optional" became the default assumption at selective colleges. That assumption is now wrong at a growing share of the schools that families care about most.

I wrote previously that "test optional" was eroding a bit each day, and the roster of test-required colleges (below) shows how far that erosion has run:-more than 60 institutions for the Class of 2027, with an even longer list awaiting the Class of 2028. The direction of defection is one way. Schools keep joining the list, and no school on it has reversed course back to test optional. Compass Education Group maintains a useful national tracker of testing policies if you want to follow the changes as they are announced.

The full list: colleges requiring the SAT or ACT for the Class of 2027

The list is grouped by category and alphabetized within each group. Where a requirement depends on GPA, pay attention to whether the school uses a weighted GPA (which adds points for honors, AP, and IB courses) or an unweighted 4.0 scale. That distinction decides whether the requirement applies to your student.

Prefer a printable copy? Download the full SAT/ACT Required list as a PDF to keep on hand or share with your school counselor.

Ivy League and highly selective private universities

• Brown University

• California Institute of Technology

• Carnegie Mellon University (varies by college; see the fine print below)

• Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (engineering majors only; all others test optional)

• Cornell University

• Dartmouth College

• Georgetown University (see the fine print below)

• Harvard University

• Johns Hopkins University (see the fine print below)

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Stanford University

• University of Pennsylvania

• Yale University

Public universities and state systems

• All Florida public 4-year universities and colleges (never test optional; they also accept the Classical Learning Test, a newer alternative exam, in place of the SAT or ACT):

  • Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

  • Florida Atlantic University

  • Florida Gulf Coast University

  • Florida International University

  • Florida Polytechnic University

  • Florida State University

  • New College of Florida

  • University of Central Florida

  • University of Florida

  • University of North Florida

  • University of South Florida

  • University of West Florida

• All Tennessee 4-year public universities and colleges

• Alcorn State University

• Auburn University

• Augusta University

• Delta State University

• Fairmont State University

• Georgia College and State University

• Georgia Institute of Technology

• Georgia Southern University

• Georgia State University

• Kennesaw State University

• Louisiana State University (Class of 2027: required if weighted GPA is below 3.5)

• Ohio State University

• Purdue University (its website says the university "expects" standardized testing)

• University of Alabama (Class of 2027: required if weighted GPA is below 3.0)

• University of Georgia

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (required if weighted GPA is below 2.8; students at 2.8 and above remain test optional)

• University of Southern Mississippi

• University of Texas at Austin

Service academies (all also accept the Classical Learning Test)

• United States Air Force Academy

• United States Coast Guard Academy

• United States Merchant Marine Academy

• United States Military Academy

• United States Naval Academy

Florida private universities

• Florida Institute of Technology

• Nova Southeastern University

• University of Miami (portfolio- and audition-based majors remain test optional)

Other colleges and universities

• Carroll College (required if unweighted GPA is below 2.85, or if homeschooled)

• College of the Ozarks

• Gallaudet University

• Harding University

• Mercer University

• Thomas Aquinas College

• University of Dallas

• Webb Institute (recommends submitting all test scores)

• William Carey University

Class of 2028 testing requirements: what's new for rising juniors

Rising juniors face everything above plus three significant additions:

• Columbia University: required for first-year applicants to Columbia College and Columbia Engineering

• Princeton University: required for all first-year and transfer applicants

• Claremont McKenna College: required for all applicants

Just as consequential: University of Alabama and Louisiana State University shed their GPA-conditional footnotes for the Class of 2028. Every applicant submits scores, regardless of GPA.

Score Choice, GPA cutoffs, and other fine-print details that families miss

Families tend to read testing policy as a yes/no question. The footnotes are where applications actually run afoul.

Score Choice is not universal. Score Choice is the College Board option that lets students pick which SAT test dates colleges see. Georgetown University will allow it starting this year (but they won’t superscore from two test dates), and Johns Hopkins University says applicants "should" report all results. If your student plans to apply to Hopkins, every official test date counts. That argues for taking the test when genuinely prepared, not for taking it casually "just to see."

Some requirements are GPA-triggered. At University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, scores are required below a 2.8 weighted GPA. Carroll College keys off a 2.85 unweighted GPA or homeschool status. A student hovering near one of these lines should assume the requirement applies.

Carnegie Mellon University relies on several policies in one. The School of Computer Science requires the SAT or ACT. Most other colleges within the university are "test flexible," requiring results from among the SAT, ACT, AP, IB, Cambridge A-Level, or French Baccalaureate. The College of Fine Arts remains test optional. Carnegie Mellon also prefers that submitted SAT or ACT scores come from tests taken after tenth grade.

Florida never left. Every public 4-year university in Florida has required testing throughout the test-optional era. For our Florida families, this national story is a return to what Bright Futures and State University System applicants have planned around all along. We break down what it takes to be admitted to these schools in our Florida's Dozen series.

What rising seniors and juniors should do now

For the Class of 2027, time is short. Seniors applying this fall to any school on this list need scores in hand by their application deadlines. In practice, that means the August SAT, the September ACT, and the October sittings of both are the last realistic windows for most early applicants. Our SAT prep courses and tutoring and ACT prep programs run at all seven of our Florida locations, and summer remains the one stretch when serious prep does not have to compete with a full academic course load.

For the Class of 2028, the position is easier: two full years, and unequivocal understanding that testing will matter. The sensible sequence is a diagnostic SAT and ACT comparison in the fall of junior year, targeted prep through the winter, and a first official sitting by spring.

For schools that remain genuinely test optional, the calculus has shifted too. When a student's scores land at or above a college's middle 50% (the range between its 25th and 75th percentile admitted-student scores) or above the middle 50% for their high school, submitting is almost always the right call. In our experience, admissions readers increasingly treat a missing score as a data point of its own. We walk through that decision in detail in Test Optional: To Submit or Not to Submit.

One more practical note: testing policy is only one line item on the list of an application strategy. Where a student applies, when they apply, and how the rest of the file supports the scores all matter more than any single number. JRA's counselors offer a 2-hour Common Application review that pressure-tests the whole file before you press “Send.”.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Ivy League schools require the SAT or ACT?

All eight Ivy League schools require the SAT or ACT for the high school Class of 2028: Brown University, Columbia University (Columbia College and Columbia Engineering), Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. For the Class of 2027, six of the eight require scores; Columbia and Princeton begin with the 2027-28 cycle.

Do Florida public universities require the SAT or ACT?

Yes. All 12 State University System schools, including University of Florida, Florida State University, and University of Central Florida, require the SAT or ACT, and they maintained that requirement throughout the national test-optional era. Florida's public institutions also accept the Classical Learning Test (CLT) in place of the SAT or ACT, an option available at a handful of other schools as well.

What changed between the Class of 2027 and Class of 2028 lists?

Three schools joined: Columbia University, Princeton University, and Claremont McKenna College. In addition, University of Alabama and Louisiana State University dropped their GPA-based exemptions, so every Class of 2028 applicant to those schools must submit scores, not just students below a 3.0 or 3.5 weighted GPA.

If a college is test optional, should my student still take the SAT or ACT?

In most cases, yes. A student applying to even one school on the required list needs scores anyway, and strong scores strengthen applications at test-optional schools, too. The practical question is usually not whether to test but whether to submit, and that depends on how the score compares to each college's middle 50% range.

Can policies on this list change before my student applies?

Yes, and they do. Colleges announce testing-policy changes throughout the year, usually effective one or two cycles out. Our list is current as of July 18, 2026, and we update it as announcements land. Before finalizing a college list, verify each school's policy on its admissions website or confirm it with your counselor.

JRA Educational Consulting and Score At The Top work together on both halves of this challenge: test preparation on one side, admissions counseling and application strategy on the other. Learn more at jraeducationalconsulting.com and scoreatthetop.com.