More Applicants Are Choosing to Submit SAT and ACT Scores
Most high school juniors and seniors will be familiar with Common App, the organization that streamlines the college application process by providing a centralized platform which students can use to apply to multiple schools.
What sounds initially like a game-changing idea (“oh, I can write 2-3 reusable essays for all of the schools to which I’m applying!”) is eventually revealed to be somewhat less than game-changing (“oh, I still have to write supplemental essays for almost all of the schools to which I’m applying…”), but the Common App does save students the time and effort of submitting the same information about their GPA, years of membership in Oboe Club, etc. for every individual school.
In addition to its benefits for students, Common App also serves as an extremely useful tool for monitoring application trends. With over 1,100 member schools both public and private, covering a range of undergraduate admit rates, the organization provides a large and diverse pool of applicants within which to observe patterns. This year, one of the biggest takeaways from its annual report involves everyone’s favorite component of the application: test scores.
It’s no secret that the number of schools requiring students to submit standardized test scores with their applications has dropped precipitously over the past several years, prompted largely by the prevalence of COVID-related testing obstacles. That decline is seen clearly amongst Common App’s member institutions: 55% of schools required test scores in 2019-2020, while only 5% did in the 2025-2026 application cycle.
Despite this significant shift, the number of first-year applicants submitting ACT or SAT scores has risen steadily since 2021-2022, and this year continued the trend. The number of students submitting scores rose by 11%, compared to an increase of 5% in the overall number of distinct first-year applicants; conversely, the number of students who declined to submit scores dropped by 1%. Overall, 56.5% of distinct first-year applicants submitted scores this year, compared to 53.6% in 2024-2025 and 51.17% and 2023-2024.
It’s worth noting that Common App’s annual report is published based on data through November 1, meaning that there is more time left in this application cycle. The ratio of students submitting to those not submitting can be expected to dilute as the cycle progresses; indeed, the report notes that “while applicants reporting test scores have historically outnumbered those who do not early in the season, these trends tend to reverse by season’s end, with a greater share of applicants ultimately not reporting test scores.”
Despite that caveat, the patterns seen in the data are still very valid, as the figures from previous years used for comparison were based on the same partial dataset. While the proportion of this year’s students submitting scores will likely drop as time passes, the increase in the number of students submitting scores is both real and notable.
It’s unclear exactly what this portends as far as school-side effects. Will median score ranges for admitted students start to shift as more applicants submit scores? Will a continued increase in score submissions affect how schools weigh scores when evaluating applications? Those are questions your college advisor is better-equipped to answer. Regardless of how many students submit scores, though, we’ll be here to help yours stand out.