Princeton to require SAT or ACT scores again from the 2027-28 admission cycle

Princeton University's Office of Admission announced on October 9, 2025 that it will once more require SAT or ACT scores from undergraduate applicants. The requirement takes effect with the 2027-28 admission cycle and covers first-year and transfer applicants who seek to enroll in fall 2028.

Princeton said the decision followed a review of five years of data from its test-optional period, which found that students who had chosen to submit scores performed better academically at the university than those who had not. Active military personnel are exempt because of possible difficulty reaching testing sites, and the university says they will not be disadvantaged in review. There is no minimum score for admission, and the university describes testing as one element of a broader review of each application. Applicants in the 2026-27 cycle, for enrollment in fall 2027, may still apply without scores. The Daily Princetonian reported, citing its own survey of incoming students, that about 22 percent of the class of 2029 did not submit scores when applying.

Princeton made testing optional in June 2020, after spring test sessions were canceled during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Princeton Alumni Weekly, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown and Harvard reinstated testing requirements in 2024 and 2025, and Princeton's change leaves Columbia as the only Ivy League institution that remains test-optional.