Madelyn Kumar

After four years of a test-optional policy allowing applicants to decide whether to submit test scores, applicants to Yale’s class of 2029 must submit standardized test scores.

Under Yale’s text-flexible admissions policy, applicants may select one or more types of tests from a list of four options — SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate. Those who choose to send AP or IB scores are required to include results from all subject exams that they have taken.

“I appreciate Yale, being such an elite school, taking a more open-minded approach to students and their test scores,” said Yash Param, a high school student from Alabama planning to apply as a Regular Decision applicant to the class of 2029. 

Among peer institutions, Yale stands out for its test-flexible admissions policy for the class of 2029. Of the other seven Ivy League institutions, Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth require the SAT or ACT.  Princeton, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell are still test-optional for the current admissions cycle. 

The News spoke with three high school students about applying to Yale in the University’s first test-flexible admissions cycle; for one, the new policy did not change their application plans while another was discouraged from applying to Yale because of it. 

John Yi ’13, associate director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, believes the test-flexible policy helps the University communicate that “academic preparation is a core component of our admissions process, but that there is not a one-size-fits-all exam that communicates that strength.” Whichever tests applicants choose to send, they are only part of a “much broader puzzle” among other components of applications.

Applicants adapt to the unique test-flexible policy 

For Michael Allen, a high school student from Alabama who applied to Yale’s single-choice early action for admission to the class of 2029, deciding what test score to submit was easy.

Allen told the News that the new policy did not affect him “in a huge way,” as he knew he was going to have to apply with the ACT, as he scored well on the test.

Param, the high school student from Alabama, viewed standardized tests as the weakest aspect of their application. Param intends to submit AP scores rather than traditional standardized test results like the ACT or SAT. 

Testing policies have shaped Param’s decision on where to apply. If Yale had test-required policies and did not allow students to submit AP scores, Param said they would not apply. 

“Yale being test-flexible encouraged me,” Param explained.

However, Ainara Soto, a high school student from Connecticut, decided not to apply to Yale in part due to the testing policy changing from test-optional to test-flexible.

“There’s so much social media content around having the perfect college application. When I compared myself I got scared [of] applying. Even with good stats and an ambition to learn, I feel like it wouldn’t be enough,” Soto wrote. 

Yale saw a 9 percent decrease in early applications from domestic applicants during this admissions cycle. Applications from international students dropped approximately 30 percent as many international students previously expressed concern about difficulty accessing standardized test centers in many of their home countries. 

Summarizing this year’s application process, Param said, “I think for all the students who are applying in the 2025 cycle, it really is waiting and seeing because we don’t know how test-flexible will be.” 

Yale’s admissions on the new policy

Yale College received 6,754 early applications to the class of 2029, a 14 percent decrease from early applications from the previous year. This group of applicants will be the first to be evaluated under Yale’s test-flexible policy. 

Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, said that the small decrease in the applicant pool was “exactly in line” with what the admissions team expected following the change in their standardized testing policy.

Hannah Mendlowitz, senior associate director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, told the News that the test-flexible policy does not dramatically change the reviewing of admissions files for officers, who already are “used to working with a range of different kinds of information.” 

However, Mendlowitz highlighted that the biggest difference is that admissions officers have the “data point” for every applicant, as opposed to only having scores for the applicants who opted in during the test-optional cycles. 

Mendlowitz emphasized that admissions officers review test scores in context. 

“We have access to data about test-taking patterns and performance in their high school, so we have a sense of what the test-taking culture is in their school and how their performance stacks up in that context specifically, not just in our applicant pool,” Mendlowitz wrote. “A score that demonstrates strength in the context of the student’s school can really help their case, even when that score is far from perfect.”

Mendlowitz expressed enthusiasm for the “ownership” the new policy gives applicants, who can now take multiple test types and decide which ones to use in their applications while “still providing the admissions office with valuable information no matter how they decide to fulfill the requirement.”

Yi wrote to the News that under test-optional admissions, Yale saw a “large increase” in applications from students without test scores whose other application elements — transcript, recommendations and personal essays — also “lacked evidence” that they were prepared to succeed at Yale.

On the other hand, he emphasized that the test-required policy prompted applicants to view testing as the “single most important factor” because everyone had to submit the same tests, discouraging applicants with lower test scores who would be great Yale students. With a test-optional policy, it is “easy” for applicants to imagine that test scores are “completely extraneous” to the review, he wrote. 

“I would reassure students that the standardized testing piece is far less interesting to us than all the other components of the application,” Yi wrote. “Each student’s context is unique, and the test-flexible policy is designed to help them shine their brightest in the admissions process — not to trick or trap them.”

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located at 38 Hillhouse Ave.