Penn reinstated the standardized testing requirement for all undergraduate applicants on Feb. 14 for the 2025-26 admissions cycle.
An announcement from the University stated that prospective students applying for admission to Penn in fall 2026 will be required to submit either SAT or ACT scores. Applicants who face “hardship in accessing testing” may submit a testing waiver as part of their application, according to the announcement.
A request for comment was left with a University spokesperson.
Penn implemented a test-optional policy during the 2020-21 application cycle after the COVID-19 pandemic closed standardized testing sites. The policy has since been extended every year, with Penn Admissions attributing the decision to the “continued effects of the pandemic” and the need to ensure its office can “responsibly review the role of the test-optional practice.”
“Since then, the University has committed to reassessing this policy each year to determine whether and when it would be appropriate to reinstate the requirement,” the recent announcement stated.
According to Penn Admissions, the reinstatement of the requirement “aims to remove uncertainty” for applicants deciding whether to submit scores. Penn will continue “considering a student’s school-based academic record on its own merit,” with SAT and ACT scores “as part of Admission’s broad and comprehensive assessment.”
“[T]esting complements a student’s existing accomplishments and can offer additional relevant information in our comprehensive and holistic admission process,” the statement read.
The shift comes as other Ivy League universities — including Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Cornell University, and Brown University — have reinstated standardized testing requirements for the 2025-26 admissions cycle after years of maintaining test-optional policies.
Yale University also reinstated standardized testing requirements but has moved to a “test-flexible” policy, allowing applicants to submit Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate test scores in lieu of the SAT or ACT. Test-optional policies remain in place at Princeton University and Columbia University.
Previous test-optional policies were correlated with a significant increase in applications. Penn’s Class of 2025 — the first to apply under the test-optional policy — broke the record for the largest application pool in the University’s history. The Class of 2028 received a record 65,230 applications, which was over 10% higher than the number of applicants to the Class of 2027.
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