The Competitive Landscape

The following is a sampling of admission statistics for well-known colleges. The information was reported by colleges for their incoming fall of 2025 class.

It is important to note that while many schools have extended their test optional policies that they implemented during the height of the COVID pandemic, a number of schools (especially the more selective and larger state state schools) have gone back to requiring standardized testing scores. Schools with test optional policies give students the choice of submitting or not submitting standardized testing scores as part of their applications. If scores are sent, most schools will consider the scores. Schools that are test blind do not consider standardized testing scores even if scores are sent.

Colleges that accept self-reporting of scores do not require official score reports from the testing agencies be sent until after the student is admitted in order to verify their self-reported scores.

College selectivity is often measured by the school’s Acceptance Rate. Yield is a measure of the school’s ability to enroll its accepted candidates. While some of the most selective schools, notably Harvard and Yale, yield a very high percentage of candidates, many competitive schools enroll fewer than half of their admitted candidates.

Students submitting scores indicate the percentage of first-time, first-year, enrolled students that submitted the SAT, ACT, or both.

College testing requirements vary and are constantly shifting. Please be sure to check college websites for pandemic updates and specific requirements.