Certain Ivy League schools require SAT scores for enrollment again

Schools like Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown have decided to reintroduce test score requirements from tests like the SAT after hundreds of colleges became test-optional during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to ABC News.

Shaan Patel with Prep Expert, an online test preparation company, says they provide colleges with a way to distinguish between students.

“Colleges are realizing that without test scores, it's really hard to differentiate between students because there has been so much grade inflation in the schools over the past 20 years that now 47% percent of all high school seniors graduate with an A average,” said Patel.

He says his agency saw a 20% increase in SAT course enrollments from North Carolina families in 2024.

“If you don't have a test score, your student will not be eligible for literally billions of dollars in college scholarships both from the universities as well as private companies, and you know everybody knows how expensive college is now so it's super important to get those scholarships,” said Patel.

But Dr. Kerr Ramsey with the Highpoint University admissions says students are much more than an SAT score and a GPA.

“We went test-optional in the fall of 2018, this was something that we did intentionally with a lot of research both internal and external,” said Ramsey.

However, he says that distinguish between students with high grades, it's labor-intensive. Connecting counselors with every admitted student at least once a month, and when families visit the university, they talk with admissions staff about educational goals.

“We get to know them through having them come here and visit campus, we travel well, do thousands of college fairs and visit hundreds and hundreds of high schools across the country every single year we spend a lot of time on the phone, a lot of emails back and forth,” said Ramsey.

Currently, many schools in the Triad are test-optional.