Yale University announced on Wednesday that it would once again require prospective undergraduates to submit ACT or SAT scores as part of their applications, reversing its pandemic-era policy shift.
The announcement comes one month after the university’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education released its long-awaited report, which recommended that Yale impose a testing requirement for all applicants.
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“SAT and ACT scores are strong predictors of a student’s future Yale academic performance, and, when considered thoughtfully as part of a whole person review, they can help identify well-prepared candidates, especially those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds,” Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said in a statement.
Yale’s reimposed testing requirement returns the university to its pre-2020 application requirements. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale pivoted after the College Board, which administers the SAT, moved exams online. The university still allowed applicants to submit test scores, though it said it did not penalize students who opted not to.
“I know that students will have many priorities when schools eventually reopen; I believe that completing standardized tests in time for an upcoming application deadline should not be among them,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan said at the time.
Yale’s Wednesday announcement marked the culmination of a process that began two years ago. In 2024, Yale adopted what it called a “test-flexible” policy. Under this change, applicants had to submit a score from at least one of four standardized test formats: the SAT, the ACT, an Advanced Placement test, or an International Baccalaureate exam.
According to Yale’s 2025-2026 common dataset, 71% of students who enrolled as part of the class of 2029 submitted SAT scores, while 27% submitted ACT scores. Applicants can submit results from both exams. The university did not specify how many successful applicants had submitted AP or IB exams instead of the SAT or ACT under its existing policy.
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In its running tally, the advocacy organization FairTest identified more than 2,085 American universities with test-optional or test-free admission. Supporters of more lenient standardized testing policies argue that those exams disadvantage students from low-income and minority backgrounds.
Critics, meanwhile, have long argued that test requirements are a bulwark against the loss of meritocracy in university admissions. In its complaint against Harvard University, which ultimately resulted in the 2023 Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action, the advocacy group Students for Free and Fair Admissions used test scores to support its claim that Asian American students were “vastly underrepresented” at Harvard.
Max Grinstein is a student at Yale University.
