Test-Optional Failure: Yale to Require Students to Submit Standardized Test Scores on Applications

Yale University will require standardized test scores for admissions for students seeking to apply starting in the fall 2025 semester. The move makes Yale the second Ivy League school to forgo its test-optional policies.

Yale officials announced Thursday that the school is rescinding its test-optional policies for undergraduate admissions, which it had in place for nearly four years, “necessitated by the pandemic.”

Students applying to Yale will need to submit their standardized test scores if they want to enter beginning in the fall semester of 2025.

“Yale will again require students to include scores with their applications,” school officials said.

While Yale will now require standardized test scores, officials noted that the school’s new admissions policies will be “flexible,” and that student will be allowed to submit scores from Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests in lieu of SAT or ACT scores.

“But, for the first time, Yale will allow applicants to report Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exam scores in lieu of the ACT or SAT,” they said.

Yale went on to say that it understands “every standardized test is imperfect and incomplete.”

“No exam can demonstrate every student’s college readiness or perfectly predict future performance,” school officials said. “Yale has not, does not, and will never rely on testing alone to assess student preparedness.”

“We read applications holistically, using all the information available to paint a picture of a student’s strengths and potential to contribute to a college community,” they added.

Yale’s announcement comes after Dartmouth College made a similar decision earlier this month, announcing that it would again require prospective students to provide their standardized test scores on applications, starting next year.

Critics claim standardized testing fosters inequality in academia, insisting that students from more prosperous families are able to turn to tutors and coaches to boost their scores.

Yale, however, claims that prior to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, “requiring tests had not impeded Yale’s ability to significantly increase the diversity of our student body.”

“Test scores provide one consistent and reliable bit of data among the countless other indicators, factors, and contextual considerations we incorporate into our thoughtful whole-person review process,” Yale officials said.

“With our new flexible policy, we hope to empower applicants to put their best foot forward, and to help admission officers respond to excellent students from all contexts,” they added.

“We think the policy better reflects how we consider scores: in combination with other information, mindful of a student’s high school environment, and with the flexibility to admit those promising students whose scores don’t fully represent their potential,” Yale concluded.

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