Princeton Will Require Standardized Test Scores Again

Princeton University will once again require applicants to submit standardized test scores beginning in the 2027–28 admissions cycle, the university announced Thursday. It’s the seventh of eight Ivy League institutions to return to requiring test scores after temporarily switching to test-optional policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only Columbia University has continued its test-optional policy.

According to a university webpage about the new testing requirement, the decision was based on data collected over the past five years of test-optional admissions showing “that academic performance at Princeton was stronger for students who chose to submit test scores than for students who did not.” Like other institutions that have switched back to requiring test scores in recent years, the university said the test scores would be considered among other admissions materials and that there was no specific minimum score needed to be admitted to Princeton. Active military applicants will be exempt from submitting test scores.

Debate over the value of standardized tests has raged since a small number of mostly selective institutions began re-instituting mandatory testing policies in the past two years. Like Princeton, most of those institutions have cited data indicating that test scores are a strong indicator of whether a student will succeed at their university. Some advocates for standardized tests also argue that a high test score can help low-income and underrepresented minority students—especially those who may fall short in other areas of the application, such as not having access to many extracurriculars—stand out to admissions officers.

But critics of these policies argue that test scores are less representative of academic prowess than mainstream research indicates. They also say the tests are, in fact, less likely to be helpful for low-income and historically underrepresented students, who may be unable to afford tutoring and other test-preparation tools.

“You’re saying you need the SAT to find diamonds in the rough. The problem is, there aren’t enough diamonds,” said Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, an advocacy group that opposes standardized testing, in an interview with Inside Higher Ed in 2024. “The juice isn’t worth the squeeze. And for every brilliant Black applicant who gets plucked out, hundreds more have their chances hurt.”

Under the Trump administration, standardized tests have received a boost as officials push colleges to require them. Officials have postulated that test-optional policies can be used as an illegal proxy for race in the admissions process, and Trump’s allies have applauded institutions for reinstating test-mandatory admissions. The recent compact that the administration asked nine institutions to sign would require institutions to mandate that students submit test scores as part of the admissions process.

On the whole, though, it does not seem the tide is shifting away from test-optional policies; according to FairTest, the proportion of institutions that have switched back to testing for this current admissions cycle remains relatively low, at just 7 percent.