New York’s 2 Ivy League Colleges Won’t Require SAT Scores to Apply
Applying to these prestigious schools might have just gotten easier.
We all know the Ivy League Colleges. They're the best colleges in the U.S. Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Yale University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and Cornell College make up the eight Ivy League schools in the country. Now, all eight of those Ivy League schools have once again chosen to not require SAT or ACT scores to apply.
Columbia University and Cornell College are the two Ivy League Colleges in New York State. On their website, Columbia announced that they have issued a one-year extension of test-optional admissions for the 2021-2022 school year. Students are still welcome to submit their SAT and ACT scores but are not required. They say that they will take everything into context as standardized testing is one part of their "multi-layered holistic review".
Cornell College announced on their website that they have also suspended the SAT and ACT testing requirement for 2022 first-year applicants. It is unclear if this was a typo or the requirement extends to next year's applicants in addition to students wishing to enroll for fall 2021. Their application checklist does not require any SAT or ACT scores.
According to Wall Street Journal, the decision to not require standardized test results has also caused a surge in applications. Columbia University had an increase of 49% of applications for the 2020-2021 academic year. Students who do not submit test scores could be considered riskier, according to the WSJ. Most colleges send out decisions in March and April.