Testing
Should you send SAT scores to test-optional schools in 2026?
How to decide whether to send SAT or ACT scores to a test-optional college in 2026 by checking its current policy and comparing your scores with its ranges.
SourceBased on what we at Aristo learned from the Stanford admissions office.
Test-optional policies at selective colleges have changed more than once since 2020, and the advice Stanford's admissions office gave in that first year still frames the decision families face now. In the fall of 2020, testing centers closed and most selective colleges stopped requiring scores. The advice from the office we learned from was correspondingly relaxed. If you loved your scores, report them; if you did not, confirm the college was optional and leave them off, because no fair-minded office would penalize a student for a test she could not sit.
That was sound advice for that year, and the principle beneath it still holds. What has changed is how many colleges still give you a decision to make at all.
Book a free consultation and unlock all tactics.
Book a free call