Columbia Completes Ivy League Return to Standardized Testing for 2027-28 Cycle

Columbia University has become the final Ivy League institution to reinstate mandatory standardized testing requirements, announcing in June 2026 that it will require SAT or ACT scores from undergraduate applicants beginning with the 2027-2028 admissions cycle. The announcement, which came after Columbia quietly updated its application guidance on June 8, completes a sweeping reversal of test-optional policies across the Ivy League that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Higher Ed Dive, Columbia's decision means that "all eight Ivy League universities will once again require standardized test scores" for admission. The university stated that Columbia College and Columbia Engineering will reinstate the testing requirement effective August 2027. This follows similar announcements from other Ivies throughout 2025 and early 2026, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth, which had already returned to requiring test scores.

The reinstatement represents a significant policy shift for elite college admissions and signals a broader trend among selective institutions returning to standardized testing requirements. As noted in multiple admissions trend reports for the 2026 cycle, including analysis from Applerouth and CollegeData, selective colleges are increasingly filling their classes through Early Decision rounds, with some institutions now filling more than 70% of their class through early admission programs. The return to testing requirements adds another layer of structure to what has become an increasingly competitive and data-driven admissions landscape at top-tier universities.

For families of students targeting elite institutions, this development means that standardized test preparation will once again be a mandatory component of the application process for all Ivy League schools, beginning with students applying for fall 2028 admission. The change comes as acceptance rates at top-tier institutions continue to reach record lows, with the 2026 admissions cycle seeing unprecedented competition for limited spots at selective colleges.