SAT waivers and exceptions at a glance: Yes, most schools that require the SAT or ACT build in some exception, though not all (Stanford lists none). Penn grants an automatic hardship waiver that later scores supersede, Georgetown accepts applications without scores from students physically unable to reach a test center, Cornell and Johns Hopkins do not require scores from transfers, Harvard accepts defined substitutes when the exams are not accessible, and Dartmouth lets students at schools outside the US use AP, IB, A-Level, or national exam results. Families building a testing strategy across multiple schools can schedule a consultation to map every deadline and election rule in one plan.
Source: Penn Admissions, Testing (admissions.upenn.edu/how-to-apply/preparing-your-application/testing).
Do Colleges That Require the SAT Ever Waive It?
The requirement headlines hide a quieter layer of policy: the waiver. At Penn, an applicant who has not taken the SAT or ACT and faces a hardship, such as no available test center, financial hardship, a natural disaster, or civil unrest, can submit a testing waiver in the application, and once it is submitted the requirement is automatically waived; Penn adds that any reported scores it receives supersede the waiver, and that applicants who have tested must submit their scores. Columbia, which remains test optional for the 2026-27 cycle, will let applicants who face challenges in meeting its restored requirement for fall 2028 entry request a waiver at the time of application. Georgetown, which requires the SAT or ACT of all candidates, accepts applications without scores in exceptional cases where students are physically unable to reach a test center, with an explanation submitted through a form in the application. These are access mechanisms, not preference mechanisms: every one of them is built for students who could not test, not students who tested poorly.
A second family of exceptions runs on applicant category rather than circumstance. Transfer applicants are the largest exempt group: Cornell requires scores from first-year applicants but says scores are neither required nor expected from transfers; Johns Hopkins likewise requires scores from first-years and does not require them from transfers; Georgetown requires scores from transfer applicants only if they graduated from high school within the past five years; and the UNC System exempts applicants who will be 21 or older by enrollment, or who bring 24 or more transferable college credits, from its minimum GPA and test score requirements. Princeton adds a service carve-out to its restored requirement for fall 2028 entry: it will not require active military personnel to submit scores, citing limited access to testing facilities during service. The pattern is consistent: schools treat college transcripts and service records as stronger evidence than a high school era exam, and families with nontraditional timelines should read the transfer fine print before assuming a requirement applies.
Which Schools Offer Hardship and Access Waivers?
The third valve is substitute evidence, and the required schools define it tightly. Harvard accepts AP, IB, GCSE or A-Level, or externally assessed national leaving exam results only in exceptional cases when the SAT or ACT is not accessible, typically when a student cannot pay for or reach a test site or cannot secure a seat before the Regular Decision deadline, and it still expects students with those results to take the SAT or ACT if they can. Dartmouth goes further for students attending high school outside the US, who may meet its requirement in one of five ways: the SAT or ACT, three AP exams, predicted or final IB Diploma results, predicted or final A-Level results, or final results from a standardized national exam, with the caution that students who will not receive national exam results until after February must choose a different option. Stanford, by contrast, offers no substitute: the SAT or ACT is required, and the GCSE results and predicted A-Level marks it asks British-system students to have sent are required school documents, not replacements. The common design: the substitute must be standardized, externally administered, and part of the student’s own system, never a workaround chosen for strategic comfort.
Two cautions keep this field guide honest. First, waivers are audited by consequence, not paperwork: Penn’s rule that received scores supersede the waiver, and that applicants who have tested must submit their scores, captures the spirit everywhere, and an applicant who claimed access barriers while sitting for several administrations invites exactly the scrutiny selective files cannot afford. Second, the valves move. Columbia’s waiver route arrives with its requirement for fall 2028 entry, Princeton’s military provision belongs to its policy for the 2027-28 cycle, Georgetown moves to the Common Application for fall 2027 entry, and the UNC System revised its test score rules in Policy 700.1.1 in May 2024, so the reading rule from every corner of this cluster applies: the school’s own testing page, in the application cycle itself, is the only citation that counts. Waivers are real, but they are footnotes to requirements, and the footnotes get rewritten more often than the headlines.
| Exception type | Schools and rules |
|---|---|
| Automatic hardship waiver | Penn: for applicants who have not taken the SAT or ACT and face hardship (test center availability, financial hardship, natural disaster, civil unrest); reported scores supersede the waiver |
| Access exception with explanation | Georgetown: applications accepted without scores in exceptional cases where students are physically unable to reach a test center; Columbia: waiver requests at application under its requirement for fall 2028 entry |
| Transfer exemptions | Cornell and Johns Hopkins do not require scores from transfer applicants; Georgetown requires them only within five years of high school; the UNC System exempts applicants 21 or older or with 24 or more transferable credits from its minimums |
| Service carve-out | Princeton: active military personnel not required to submit scores under its policy for fall 2028 entry |
| Substitute evidence | Harvard: AP, IB, GCSE or A-Level, or national leaving exams only when the SAT or ACT is not accessible; Dartmouth: students outside the US may use three AP exams, IB, A-Levels, or final national exams (results after February do not work); Stanford: no substitute |
| The governing rule | Every valve is built for students who could not test, not students who tested poorly, and details change often enough that the school’s own page in the application cycle is the only citation that counts |
Which Applicants Are Exempt From Required Testing?
Who should actually use these valves? Oriel Admissions finds the honest census short. International students in regions with sparse test center coverage are the core group for access exceptions and national-exam routes, and at Dartmouth those routes are full alternatives for any student attending high school outside the US, not concessions. Transfer applicants, especially those a few years past high school, should read the exemptions as the schools intend them, an invitation to be judged on the college record. Active military personnel have Princeton’s provision once its requirement returns for fall 2028 entry. And students in IB, A-Level, or national-exam systems should treat those results as native evidence where a school, such as Dartmouth, explicitly accepts them. Who should not use them: domestic students with ordinary test access and a disappointing score, for whom a waiver claim is neither available in spirit nor wise in practice.
What Substitute Evidence Do Required Schools Accept?
Executing a waiver or substitute route takes more calendar discipline than ordinary testing, not less. National exams and A-Level results run on their systems’ schedules, and Dartmouth’s warning that national exam results arriving after February will not work shows how hard those dates bind; predicted IB and A-Level results must be submitted by a school official, not self-reported. Georgetown’s access exception is handled through a form in the application, so the explanation should be ready when the application goes in. Transfers leaning on exemptions should still assemble the strongest college transcript possible by the spring transfer deadlines. And any family invoking a hardship route should document the barrier at the time it happens, since the credibility of an access claim is established when the access failed, not when the application is due.
Related reading: For the full school-by-school picture, see our guide to which top colleges require the SAT or ACT, and use our advice on how to build a college list to sort targets once your testing plan is set.
How Should Families Use Waivers Without Weakening the File?
Oriel Admissions advises families to treat the waiver layer as infrastructure rather than opportunity. The right posture at required schools is unchanged, plan the SAT or ACT as though no valve existed, because scores remain the strongest and most portable form of the evidence every one of these schools has decided it wants. The valves earn their place when circumstance genuinely closes the main road: a test desert abroad, a service obligation, a transfer timeline, a national system whose own exams say more than a Saturday sitting could. Used that way, a waiver is exactly what the schools designed it for, and a substitute route can present evidence in its strongest native form. Used as a dodge, the same mechanisms read exactly as what they are, and at admit rates in the single digits, files do not survive reads like that.
Frequently Asked Questions About SAT Waivers and Testing Exceptions
Often yes, for access reasons. Penn waives its requirement automatically for applicants who have not tested and submit a hardship waiver, Columbia will accept waiver requests under its requirement for fall 2028 entry, and Georgetown accepts applications without scores from students physically unable to reach a test center. Stanford lists no waiver.
Frequently not. Cornell and Johns Hopkins do not require scores from transfer applicants, Georgetown requires them only from applicants within five years of high school, and the UNC System exempts applicants who are 21 or older or bring 24 or more transferable credits from its minimums. Penn applies its requirement to transfers, as will Princeton and Columbia from fall 2028.
Only where the school says so. Harvard accepts AP, IB, GCSE or A-Level, or national leaving exam results when the SAT or ACT is not accessible, Dartmouth accepts three AP exams, IB results, A-Level results, or final national exams from students attending high school outside the US, and Stanford accepts no substitute.
At Penn, the waiver is only for applicants who have not taken the SAT or ACT, applicants who have tested must submit their scores, and any reported scores supersede the waiver. Waivers exist for students who could not test, and a claimed barrier alongside multiple sittings invites scrutiny.
Princeton will not require active military personnel to submit scores under its testing requirement for fall 2028 entry, and the UNC System exempts service members or veterans with three or more years of active duty from its minimum requirements.
The calendar of the exam system plus the college cutoff: Dartmouth says students who will not receive national exam results until after February must choose a different testing option, and predicted IB and A-Level results must be submitted by a school official.
No. Every valve in this guide is an access mechanism, not a preference mechanism, and Oriel Admissions tells domestic students with ordinary test access to plan the SAT or ACT as though no waiver existed.
Yes, faster than the headline requirements: Columbia and Princeton both restore requirements for fall 2028 entry with new waiver and military provisions, and the UNC System revised its test score rules in 2024, so verify on the testing page of each school in the application cycle itself.
Sources: Penn Admissions, Testing; Columbia Undergraduate Admissions, Testing Policy Update; Georgetown, International Applicants and Transfer Applicants; Cornell, Standardized Testing Policy; Johns Hopkins, Standardized Testing; UNC System, Admissions; Princeton, Standardized Testing; Harvard College, Application Requirements; Dartmouth, Testing Guidelines; Stanford, Standardized Testing.
About Oriel Admissions
Oriel Admissions is a college admissions consulting firm advising families nationwide on elite university admissions strategy, with offices in Princeton, New Jersey and New York. Our strength is a deeply experienced team and a distinctive 360 approach that treats every part of the application (academics, testing, activities, essays, and interviews) as one connected strategy. To discuss your strategy, schedule a consultation.
