Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Syracuse University will extend test-optional admissions through fall 2026 and spring 2027, marking its fifth consecutive cycle using this approach, the university announced Friday.

The policy allows prospective students to apply without submitting SAT or ACT scores. SU first implemented the test-optional approach in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when many colleges altered admissions procedures, and has extended it every cycle since.

While many schools have maintained their COVID-era test-optional admissions policies amid national conversations about admissions equity, the practice is now facing scrutiny under President Donald Trump’s administration.

In the U.S. Department of Education’s Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter, Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote that test-optional policies are often “motivated by racial considerations,” thus rendering them “impermissible” after the June 2023 overturning of affirmative action.

“It would, for instance, be unlawful for an educational institution to eliminate standardized testing to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity,” Trainor wrote.

In a March 6 campus-wide email, SU announced it will evaluate its existing programs for compliance with Trump’s restrictions on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. The university has also moved all scholarship programs into its Office of Academic Affairs.

In the fall 2025 admissions cycle, around 1,800 U.S. colleges and universities — or 80% — didn’t require standardized test scores for admissions, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. While a majority of universities have maintained these policies, some — including many Ivy League and other selective institutions — recently reintroduced the requirements.

Under SU’s test optional procedures, applicants who chose not to submit test scores are not penalized for doing so. They are also eligible for merit scholarships.

Published on March 11, 2025 at 10:35 am

Contact Julia: jmboehni@syr.edu