College lists

Test-optional colleges

At a test-optional college, sending an SAT or ACT score is your choice. If you submit, the score is considered alongside everything else; if you do not, you are read without it and not penalized for the gap. The judgment call is simple: submit when your score is at or above the school's middle range, hold it back when it is well below.

The list below is sorted most selective first. At the top, a strong score still helps you stand out even though it is optional. Lower down, your grades and rigor carry most of the weight. See where you land at any of them with the chances calculator.

165 schools on this list

UChicago admits 4.5% Vanderbilt admits 4.7% Duke admits 4.8% Northeastern admits 5.6% Bowdoin admits 6.5% Amherst admits 6.8% Pomona admits 6.9% Colby admits 7% Northwestern admits 7% Swarthmore admits 7.4% Williams admits 7.4% NYU admits 7.7% Rice admits 8% Barnard admits 9% St Andrews admits 9% CMC admits 9.6% USC admits 10% Tufts admits 10.5% Cooper Union admits 11% Emory admits 12% Notre Dame admits 12% WashU admits 12% UVA admits 12.5% Boston College admits 12.6% Davidson admits 13% Harvey Mudd admits 13% Hamilton admits 13.6% Wellesley admits 13.7% Middlebury admits 13.9% Haverford admits 14% Tulane admits 14% Bates admits 15% Grinnell admits 15% UNC admits 15% Wesleyan admits 16% Babson admits 17% Denison admits 17% Holy Cross admits 18% Miami admits 18% Michigan admits 18% Wake Forest admits 18% Vassar admits 19% Colgate admits 20% Sciences Po admits 20% Skidmore admits 21% Smith admits 21% Carleton admits 21.8% Richmond admits 22% Olin admits 25% Trinity (TX) admits 25% Lehigh admits 26% Villanova admits 27.4% Columbia admits 29% Trinity admits 29% Kenyon admits 31% Lafayette admits 31% Bucknell admits 32% F&M admits 32% Fairfield admits 33% Trinity Dublin admits 33% Oberlin admits 34% Mount Holyoke admits 36% William & Mary admits 37% Binghamton admits 38% Clemson admits 38% Conn College admits 38% Scripps admits 38% Whitman admits 38% Delaware admits 39% Gettysburg admits 39% UW admits 39% Brandeis admits 40% Dickinson admits 42% Illinois admits 42% Rochester admits 42% St. Olaf admits 43% Syracuse admits 43% Union admits 43% Macalester admits 44% Maryland admits 44% TCU admits 44% BU admits 45% LMU admits 45% GW admits 47% Furman admits 47.9% Clark admits 49% Stony Brook admits 49% Wisconsin admits 49% Occidental admits 50% Providence admits 50% Rhodes admits 50% RIT admits 50% Santa Clara admits 50% Baylor admits 51% Emerson admits 51% Stevens admits 51% Bard admits 52% UConn admits 52% USD admits 52% Wofford admits 52% Centre admits 54% DePauw admits 54% Yeshiva admits 56% Sewanee admits 57% Texas A&M admits 57% Virginia Tech admits 57% Colorado College admits 58% Fordham admits 58% Pitt admits 58% Rutgers admits 58% South Carolina admits 60% UMass Amherst admits 60% USF admits 60% UVM admits 60% WPI admits 60% Penn State admits 61% American admits 62% Sarah Lawrence admits 62% Beloit admits 63% Elon admits 63% Pepperdine admits 63% RPI admits 63% SMU admits 63% Lawrence admits 64% UVic admits 64% Case Western admits 65% Buffalo admits 67% Seton Hall admits 69% Texas Tech admits 69% DePaul admits 70% Knox admits 71% JMU admits 72% Puget Sound admits 72% URI admits 72% Earlham admits 73% Arkansas admits 74% Houston admits 74% SLU admits 75% Kalamazoo admits 76% Denver admits 77% Minnesota admits 77% Oklahoma admits 77% Oregon State admits 77% Willamette admits 77% Drexel admits 78% Indiana admits 78% Mizzou admits 78% CU Boulder admits 79% Gonzaga admits 79% Hope admits 79% Creighton admits 80% Marquette admits 81% Loyola Chicago admits 82% Iowa admits 84% Cincinnati admits 85% Michigan State admits 85% Oregon admits 86% George Mason admits 87% Nebraska admits 87% Utah admits 87% Washington State admits 87% Kansas admits 88% UNH admits 88% ASU admits 90% Kentucky admits 93%

See your real chances at every one of these.

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