Tests
Source: https://admissions.yale.edu/test-advice Parent: https://admissions.yale.edu/what-yale-looks-for
In This Section
Yale’s test-flexible policy is designed to help you put your best foot forward.
At Yale, we believe there is no perfect test, and no one-size-fits-all approach to demonstrating college readiness. Admissions officers do not prefer one type of test over another and do not penalize applications that lack particular test scores. Neither perfect scores nor a long list of completed exams are required to be competitive in Yale’s selection process.
I believe every standardized test is imperfect and incomplete. But when used together with other elements in an application, test scores help establish the academic foundation for any case we consider.
—
Jeremiah Quinlan, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions & Financial Aid
Score ranges
Yale enrolls students with a range of scores. The middle 80% of ACT and SAT scores (the 10th to the 90th percentiles) of first-year students who enrolled in fall 2025 were as follows:
- ACT Composite: 31-36
- SAT-Evidence-Based Reading and Writing: 680-790
- SAT-Math: 690-800
These ranges provide a snapshot of the class, not a floor for competitiveness in Yale’s selection process. It is not the case that scores below a certain threshold “hurt” an application while those above “help” it. Scores below these ranges can still be helpful to establish an applicant’s academic preparation for Yale coursework. For additional information on the testing choices of incoming students, review the latest class profile below.
Published: December 23, 2025
How Yale considers standardized tests
Admissions officers read applications holistically, using all the information available to paint a picture of a student’s strengths and potential to contribute to a college community. An application is like a jigsaw puzzle: the picture is not complete without all its pieces.
Academic strength is our first consideration. Every successful application demonstrates that a student has the academic foundation necessary to complete Yale’s rigorous liberal arts program, including coursework in the diverse range of subjects that fulfill Yale’s distributional requirements.
A student’s transcript tells the selection committee much about a candidate’s preparation: it provides evidence of a student’s academic drive, resourcefulness, and performance over time. Testing can fill in additional parts of the picture. Tests can highlight an applicant’s areas of academic strength, reinforce high school grades, fill in gaps in a transcript stemming from extenuating circumstances, and—most importantly—identify students whose performance stands out in their high school context.
For these reasons, we consider standardized test scores and transcripts together. Officers evaluate scores within each student’s unique context and use them to augment other academic indicators in the application. Strong scores are not a substitute for a weak transcript, and weaker scores do not disqualify an applicant.
Advice on selecting scores to include
When considering which scores to include with your application, consider the following questions:
- Do the scores indicate my preparation for college-level coursework?
- Do the scores reflect areas of academic strength?
- Do the scores help showcase my academic range?
- Do the scores supplement the courses and grades on my high school transcript?
- Do the scores stand out as especially notable in my secondary school?
- Am I proud of the scores as a reflection of the effort I put into preparing for the test(s)?
Keep in mind that Yale’s review process is holistic and contextual. All test scores are considered by a real person; they are not fed into an algorithm or weighting rubric.
Try to avoid the urge to seek equivalencies or comparisons among the tests. Each test can help strengthen a student’s application in a unique way, and the most helpful test for an individual applicant will depend on that student’s specific context.
If you are struggling to decide whether to include or exclude a set of scores, rest assured that, on their own, a single set of scores do very little to sway an applicant’s overall candidacy. Yale’s test-flexible policy reflects the Committee’s belief that scores are often revealing but never determinative.