Cornell, Ohio State Mandate SAT/ACT for Fall 2026 Applicants, Signaling Major Policy Shift

Two major universities have made definitive moves to reinstate standardized testing requirements for the high school class of 2026, whose applications open this fall, signaling a continued and significant reversal of test-optional policies adopted during the pandemic.

Cornell University announced that, effective for students applying for fall 2026 enrollment, "first-year applicants are required to submit the SAT or ACT scores when applying to Cornell" across all eight of its undergraduate colleges, according to its official admissions policy page [1]. This reinstatement, first announced in April 2024, ends the university's test-optional experiment for this applicant pool [2].

Similarly, The Ohio State University has announced the reinstatement of the ACT/SAT requirement for new first-year applicants to its Columbus campus beginning with the 2026 admissions cycle [3]. The university's official announcement confirms the policy applies to students who will start applying in August 2026 for fall 2027 enrollment, though the requirement is effective for the class entering in fall 2026 [4].

These announcements from a top-tier Ivy League institution and a flagship public university underscore a broader trend of selective schools moving back to test-required or test-recommended policies. As noted by admissions advisors, "Several elite schools have reinstated test-required policies in 2026, and many others strongly encourage scores even while remaining test-optional" [5]. The decisions place renewed importance on the August 2026 SAT and upcoming ACT test dates for current high school juniors finalizing their testing plans ahead of application season.