Should You Submit SAT or ACT Scores? How to Decide for Each College

A 1380 SAT might be worth submitting to one college and withholding from another. The difference depends on the school’s testing policy, its published score distribution, and what the student’s application already demonstrates.

The mistake families make is treating a college’s middle 50% score range as a cutoff. It isn’t. That range describes enrolled students who submitted scores. It doesn’t tell you what would have happened if those students had applied without them.

At North Shore College Consulting, we recommend making this decision separately for every college on a student’s list.

Before deciding whether to send a score, check five things:

1. The college’s testing policy for the correct admissions cycle.
2. The 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile scores in its Common Data Set.
3. Whether the college accepts self-reported scores, superscores, or requires official reports.
4. Whether the student’s intended program has additional testing requirements.
5. Whether scores affect merit scholarships, even when admission is test-optional.

Here is how to work through those questions, including the situations where the published score range doesn’t give you the whole answer.

1. First, check whether the college actually gives students a choice

For students applying during the 2026–27 admissions cycle (entering college in fall 2027), colleges use different testing policies. If the vocabulary is new, our earlier post on test-optional versus test-blind admissions covers the definitions; this post covers the decision.

These examples reflect official institutional guidance reviewed October 29, 2026. Individual requirements and exceptions still matter.

Three policy details deserve particular attention.

Yale changed its testing policy for the current cycle. On May 27, 2026, Yale announced a return to requiring the SAT or ACT. Its previous test-flexible policy allowed applicants to satisfy the testing requirement using AP or IB results instead. That is no longer an alternative for standard first-year applicants entering fall 2027. Yale’s current policy is on its standardized testing page.

Princeton, Columbia, and Notre Dame are test-optional for fall 2027 entry, but will require testing for fall 2028 entry. Columbia announced its change on June 12, 2026. Princeton and Notre Dame also have official guidance confirming the change. Published exceptions may apply.

The University of California is reviewing its testing policy. UC will not consider SAT or ACT scores for fall 2027 admission. Its Academic Senate is reviewing whether standardized testing should return, with recommendations expected to reach the Regents by June 2027. No decision has been announced for fall 2028 applicants. Our UC admissions guide covers the rest of the UC application.

For parents of juniors, the practical advice is to build a testing plan based on the schools currently on the list, while watching for policy changes before applications open.

2. The Common Data Set gives you the numbers. Here’s how to read them.

Search for “[College Name] Common Data Set” and open the institution’s official report. If you have never opened one, our post on demonstrated interest walks through the same document for a different question.

You are looking for three sections:

These are included in the 2025–26 Common Data Set format. The college’s current admissions page should still be checked for the policy applicable to the student’s application.

A real example: Princeton’s published score distribution

Princeton’s 2025–26 Common Data Set reports the following for first-year students who enrolled in fall 2025 and submitted SAT scores:

Official institutional data for fall 2025 enrollees, not current applicant scores.

Now consider a student with a hypothetical 1510 SAT.

That score is above Princeton’s reported 25th percentile but below its 50th percentile. It falls within the published middle 50%.

Does that mean the student should submit it?

Not necessarily.

Princeton states that students applying without scores for fall 2027 will not be disadvantaged in its admission process. The college also evaluates submitted testing in the context of its broader application review.

A 1510 is therefore a score that deserves an individualized decision, rather than an automatic yes or no.

The same approach applies at other test-optional colleges, although the numbers and institutional policies differ.

Why the percentage submitting scores matters

Princeton’s C9 shows that 60% of its fall 2025 entering class submitted SAT scores and 20% submitted ACT scores. These are separate categories and should not simply be added to determine the share of students submitting any test.

The SAT range describes students who submitted SAT scores. It does not establish the score distribution of all students who enrolled.

At a test-optional college, the published score distribution may be affected by selection bias. Students who submit scores are not necessarily representative of students who do not.

That means a score below the reported median is not automatically a poor score to submit. It also means a student cannot assume that an above-median score will improve admission chances.

The submission percentage is useful context, not a formula for adjusting the range.

3. Our framework for deciding whether to submit

At North Shore College Consulting, we use the published range as a starting point, then consider the rest of the application.

For a school that is genuinely test-optional:

This is our recommended framework, not a rule published by colleges.

The question in the middle two cases is what the score adds.

If a student has a very strong transcript in a demanding course schedule, a score near the lower end of the college’s published range may not add much information.

If a student’s academic record leaves an important question unanswered, a score may provide useful additional evidence. A strong SAT Math section score, for example, might be relevant when evaluating quantitative preparation in the context of the courses a high school offers. We cover what the score itself communicates in What a 30 ACT Actually Tells Admissions Officers.

That still doesn’t establish that the college will reward submission. It gives us something specific to evaluate.

4. Four reasons the published score range may not settle the decision

Reason 1: Merit scholarships use different criteria

A test-optional admissions policy does not necessarily mean that test scores are optional for every scholarship.

The University of Alabama is a particularly useful example for families applying for summer or fall 2027.

Alabama’s automatic merit scholarships use GPA and official SAT or ACT scores. Students who do not submit scores can still qualify for consideration for competitive scholarships, but the automatic-merit criteria are different.

There is another detail families can easily miss: Alabama superscores for admission but does not superscore for automatic merit scholarships. 

The priority deadline for summer/fall 2027 automatic-merit consideration is December 4, 2026, including official scores.

A December 5 SAT score would arrive after that priority deadline.

Before withholding a score at a college that awards merit aid, check the scholarship rules separately. The admissions testing page may not contain everything you need. 

Reason 2: The intended program has different requirements

Carnegie Mellon is a good example of why reading only the university’s general testing policy can cause problems.

Its Griffin School of Computer Science requires SAT or ACT scores. Several other programs, including Engineering and Tepper, are test-flexible, accepting specified alternatives. The College of Fine Arts is test-optional. The breakdown is on Carnegie Mellon’s standardized testing page.

The student’s intended undergraduate school or program determines which policy applies.

Before making a submission decision, look for separate testing instructions for the specific major or school. Our UT Austin School Read shows how far that logic goes at a university where the major is the admission decision.

Reason 3: The score contributes evidence the transcript doesn’t fully show

A score that falls below a college’s published median could still be worth considering if it demonstrates an academic strength relevant to the student’s application.

The decision depends on the full record: available courses, grades, subject-level scores, academic interests, and the college’s stated approach to testing. How that record is read is the subject of How Admissions Officers Read a Transcript.

In our counseling work, this is one of the situations where we would examine the transcript and scores together rather than relying on a percentile alone.

The reverse is also possible. A score may be perfectly respectable but add little to an already compelling academic presentation.

Neither case supports an automatic decision.

Reason 4: The college’s own guidance matters more than our rule of thumb

A college may explicitly tell applicants how it evaluates submitted scores or how it treats students applying without them.

Princeton, for example, states that students who apply without SAT or ACT scores in the 2026–27 cycle will not be disadvantaged.

That is more relevant to an application decision than an attempt to infer a penalty from a Common Data Set importance rating.

Start with what the college actually says. Then decide whether the student’s score is worth adding.

5. Score Choice, superscoring, and official reports: three different decisions

Families sometimes treat these terms as interchangeable. They aren’t.

Score Choice lets students choose which SAT test dates to send through College Board, subject to the receiving institution’s reporting requirements.

Superscoring means that a college considers the student’s highest eligible section scores across multiple test dates.

Official reporting concerns whether the student must send scores directly from the testing agency or can initially self-report them.

A school can accept Score Choice but calculate scores differently from another school. It may also permit self-reporting while requiring official verification later.

Here are examples that make the distinction concrete.

These policies were confirmed from the colleges’ official admissions pages for the current application cycle.

The lesson: a student’s strongest score for one college may be calculated differently at another.

One more ACT complication: Science is now optional on the test, but not necessarily at every college

The enhanced ACT allows students to take the test without the Science section, and its new composite score is based on English, Math, and Reading.

But college policies differ.

Pomona requires students choosing to submit the ACT to provide the Core ACT plus Science. MIT does not require Science.

A junior planning testing should check these requirements before deciding whether to register for ACT Science.

6. Can students submit scores to some Common App colleges but not others?

Yes. Common App’s testing guide explains that students can choose how to complete the Testing section and which colleges receive self-reported scores.

Scores entered in that section are not official reports.

For a student applying to a mix of test-required and test-optional schools, the practical process is:

1. Determine the decision for each college before submitting its application.
2. Complete or adjust the Testing section according to that decision.
3. Preview the application for that specific college before submission.
4. Confirm whether the college also requires scores through its own application questions, applicant portal, or an official testing agency report.

Do not rely on the Common App section alone when the college has additional reporting instructions.

Also, distinguish between a score the college must receive by a deadline and one the student merely requests to be sent on that date.

Stanford explicitly states that official scores must match self-reported results and that discrepancies may result in an admission offer being revoked.

Accuracy in reporting is not optional.

7. Is a December SAT or ACT too late for Regular Decision?

The answer depends on the school and the specific requirement.

For students applying in the 2026–27 cycle, the official national testing schedules show:

Source: College Board and ACT 2026–27 U.S. testing calendars, checked October 29, 2026.

The registration deadlines do not establish when a college will accept the scores.

For instance:

• Penn accepts the December 5 SAT and December 12 ACT for 2026–27 Regular Decision.
• UT Austin requires official regular-decision testing to be received by December 10, making the December 12 ACT too late for that requirement.
• Harvard allows some later testing for Regular Decision and explains its timing on the official admissions website.

The most useful question to ask before a December retake is not simply, “Could my student improve?”

It’s: Which college would use the new score, what score would make us reconsider submission, and will the result arrive in time? If the answer is a low score that cannot be improved in time, our post on what to do with a low standardized test score covers the alternatives.

If the student cannot identify a specific reason the new result matters, another sitting may not be the best use of the remaining application season.