While it is our view that universities that have gone test-optional due to the pandemic will remain test-optional for many years to come, we thought we’d share with our readers an overall update on how long some of our nation’s highly selective universities have already stipulated they will remain test-optional. Note that each class we mention is the year in which the students will graduate from college — not the year in which they will graduate from high school. As an example, this year’s applicants to college will be members of the Class of 2026. Also, keep in mind that these timelines are minimums. These institutions may well – and we would argue likely will — remain test-optional for much longer. But this is the verbiage of their previously announced test-optional (or test-blind in some cases) commitments.

Amherst College will remain test-optional through the Class of 2027, Barnard College through the Class of 2027, Boston College through the Class of 2026, Brown University through the Class of 2027, California Institute of Technology (test-blind, not test-optional) through the Class of 2027, Carnegie Mellon University through the Class of 2026, Cornell University (with three of their schools test-blind) through the Class of 2028, Dartmouth College through the Class of 2027, Duke University through the Class of 2026, Emory University through the Class of 2026, Georgetown University through the Class of 2026, Georgia Institute of Technology through the Class of 2025, Harvey Mudd College through the Class of 2026, Johns Hopkins University through the Class of 2030, Massachusetts Institute of Technology through the Class of 2026, Middlebury College through the Class of 2027 (previously test-flexible), and Northwestern University through the Class of 2027.

In addition, Oberlin College will remain test-optional through the Class of 2027, Pitzer College (test-blind, not test-optional) through the Class of 2028, Rice University through the Class of 2027, Stanford University through the Class of 2027, Swarthmore College through the Class of 2029, Tufts University through the Class of 2027, Tulane University through the Class of 2026, University of California (all schools test-blind), University of Michigan through the Class of 2028, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill through the Class of 2026, University of Pennsylvania through the Class of 2027, University of Texas at Austin through the Class of 2027, Villanova University through the Class of 2027, Williams College through the Class of 2027, and Yale University through the Class of 2027.