Cornell University reinstates ACT and SAT requirements

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Dive Brief: 

• Cornell University will once again require standardized test scores for students seeking undergraduate admission for fall 2026, making it the latest Ivy League college to shed its test-optional policy. 
• The university will remain test-optional for applicants seeking admission for fall 2025, according to a release Monday, though Cornell encouraged students to still submit SAT or ACT scores. 
• Like other high-profile colleges that revived testing requirements, Cornell cited concerns that some students were withholding scores that could have benefitted their applications. The university also referenced internal data showing that admitted students who included their test scores had “somewhat stronger GPAs” at Cornell compared to those who didn’t. 

Dive Insight: 

Cornell joins a growing list of Ivy League institutions that have recently revived their standardized testing requirements, with Brown University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University and Yale University all making similar moves. 

Columbia University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania — the other three institutions in the Ivy League — have so far retained their test-optional policies. And more than 2,000 four-year colleges aren’t requiring ACT or SAT scores for students seeking to enroll this fall, according to a tally from FairTest, which advocates for limited uses of standardized testing.

A Cornell task force — composed of eight faculty members and administrators — examined the impact of the university shedding testing requirements in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Five of Cornell’s undergraduate colleges had switched to test-optional policies, while the university’s other three colleges had gone test-free, meaning admissions officials don’t review scores even if students submit them.

According to the task force’s seven-page report, their members found no “clear indication” that the test-optional policy increased diversity among first-year students. 

The university did see modest gains in underrepresented students between the fall 2020 cohort, which had to submit test scores, and subsequent cohorts. But those trends have been in play for several years, the task force said. 

They also found that applicants who provided exam scores to Cornell’s test-optional colleges were significantly more likely to be admitted. Just 24% of applicants submitted scores for undergraduate admission in fall 2023. But more than 42% of accepted students sent in their exam results. 

The task force voiced concerns that students were withholding scores that could aid their applications. 

“Read with an appreciation for context, an applicant with a test score that may be below the average for Cornell students but that is well above average for their high school may be considered a desirable admit,” they wrote. “Test scores enable those types of decisions.”