Emory testing policy at a glance: No, Emory does not require the SAT or ACT. The university confirmed its test-optional policy for the 2026-27 cycle, covering first-year and transfer applicants, both entry points at Emory College and Oxford College, every decision plan, and consideration for all of Emory’s Scholar Program merit awards. Students who prefer their scores not be seen simply answer no, and Emory will not consider them, with no justification required. Families planning a testing timeline around Emory can schedule a consultation to build a complete testing and application strategy.
Source: Emory University Admission, Standardized Exam Policies (apply.emory.edu/apply/first-year/tips/standardized-exam-policies.html).
Does Emory Require the SAT or ACT?
No. Emory remains test optional for the 2026-27 cycle, and the coverage is complete: first-year and transfer applicants, both of Emory’s entry points, Emory College of Arts and Sciences and Oxford College, all decision plans from Early Decision I through Regular Decision, and every candidate for Emory’s Scholar Programs, including full-scholarship awards. The mechanics respect the choice unusually strictly. The application asks whether a student wants SAT or ACT scores considered, and a no means the committee will not look at scores even if they arrive self-reported on the application or printed on the high school transcript. Emory also states plainly that students will not have to justify their reasons for not submitting.
For submitters, Emory’s rules are among the most generous anywhere. It superscores both exams, taking the highest SAT section scores across all attempts and, for the ACT, averaging the four best subject scores from all submitted sittings to reach the highest possible composite, a construction friendlier than most peers’ ACT handling. Self-reported scores are accepted, even after deadlines, with the file updated whenever new results arrive, though review is never delayed to wait for them; official reports, SAT code 5187 and ACT code 0810, come due only from enrolling students. One nudge applies to everyone: Emory encourages all applicants, including those applying test optional, to self-report AP scores of 3 or higher, with IB results welcome on the same terms.
How Has Emory’s Testing Policy Changed?
Emory adopted test-optional admissions in 2020 and has renewed it annually through formal announcements on its admission blog, most recently confirming the 2026-27 cycle in December 2025 with language identical in structure to prior years, an institutional rhythm that suggests deliberate year-by-year evaluation rather than drift. That keeps Emory in the shrinking club of elite holdouts alongside Duke, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, WashU, USC, and the University of Chicago, while Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and most of the Ivy League require scores and Princeton and Columbia complete their returns. Families of current sophomores should treat each Emory renewal as covering one cycle and watch the blog each winter.
Emory’s admitted-student data shows what optional means in practice at this tier. Nearly all enrolled students who submitted scores sit in the 1400 to 1600 band, with roughly nine in ten section scores landing between 700 and 800, and published submitter ranges around 1450 to 1540 on the SAT and 32 to 34 on the ACT. The Oxford College entry point, Emory’s smaller liberal-arts campus where students spend two years before continuing in Atlanta, runs the same testing policy with a modestly different pool. Emory frames the whole structure holistically, treating scores as one indication of preparation among coursework rigor, grades, essays, and the AP and IB results it actively invites from everyone.
| Policy Detail | Emory |
|---|---|
| Requirement status | Test optional through the 2026-27 cycle for first-year and transfer applicants |
| Coverage | Emory College and Oxford College, all decision plans, and all Scholar Program merit awards |
| Score suppression | Answering no means scores are not considered, even if self-reported or on the transcript; no justification required |
| Superscoring | SAT highest sections across attempts; ACT composite built by averaging the four best subject scores across sittings |
| AP and IB | All applicants, including non-submitters, encouraged to self-report AP scores of 3 or higher; officials verify at enrollment |
| Deadlines | Early Decision I November 1; Early Decision II and Regular Decision January 1; late self-reported scores accepted until review |
What SAT and ACT Scores Are Competitive at Emory?
The submit decision at Emory follows the elite-optional pattern with a lower anchor than the Ivy band. A score inside or above the submitter range, roughly 1450 and up on the SAT or 32 and up on the ACT, is an asset worth showing, and Emory’s averaging construction on the ACT means an uneven sitting can still yield a flattering composite once the four best subjects are combined across dates. Below roughly 1420 with no path upward, the optional route is genuinely safe given Emory’s strict suppression, and the file should lean on Emory’s own invitation: AP scores of 3 and above, IB results, and a transcript that shows the hardest available sequence. Scholar Program candidates should note the awards run test optional too, so the merit case can rest entirely on the rest of the file.
How Should You Plan Testing for Emory?
Emory’s calendar offers Early Decision I on November 1, Early Decision II on January 1, and Regular Decision on January 1, and the two ED rounds carry Emory’s characteristic sequencing advantage: a student denied in EDI may pivot to another school’s EDII, or an EDI-deferred family may hold through Regular Decision. The testing arc stays standard, a spring junior-year sitting and a fall retake, but Emory’s tolerance for late self-reported scores adds slack: results arriving after the deadline still join the file if the review has not yet happened. Students applying to both Emory College and Oxford College submit one application covering both, and the testing choice travels with it. AP self-reporting belongs in the application regardless of the testing route.
For the picture across every top school, see our full guide to which colleges require the SAT and ACT. From there, What Is Emory University Known For?, Emory Supplemental Essays Strategy: Prompts, Approach, and Strategy for 2025-2026, and SAT and ACT Prep Timeline: 9th Through 12th Grade Roadmap for Elite Admissions can help you put testing inside a complete Emory application strategy.
What Does This Policy Mean for Your Application Strategy?
Strategically, Emory rewards families who read its structure as an invitation to show evidence in whatever form exists. The strict suppression makes the optional route trustworthy; the everyone-should-report-AP nudge tells you what the committee wants instead when scores are absent; and the generous ACT averaging quietly favors students whose subject strengths are uneven. The dual-campus application is its own lever, since Oxford College’s smaller pool and distinctive two-year liberal arts start can suit strong students whose numbers sit below the Atlanta campus median. As everywhere in the optional tier, prepare as though scores were required, then exercise Emory’s unusually clean choice with a final number in hand, and let the AP record carry what the score does not.
Frequently Asked Questions About Emory’s Testing Policy
Yes. Emory confirmed its test-optional policy for the 2026-27 cycle in a December 2025 announcement, covering first-year and transfer applicants, both campuses, every decision plan, and all Scholar Program merit awards.
No. When a student answers no to the score-consideration question, Emory will not consider SAT or ACT results even if they arrive self-reported or appear on the high school transcript, and no justification for the choice is required.
Yes, both, and generously: the highest SAT sections across all attempts are combined, and the ACT composite is built by averaging the four best subject scores across sittings, a friendlier construction than most peers use.
Yes. Consideration for all of Emory’s Scholar Programs, including full-scholarship awards, runs under the same test-optional policy, so a merit case can rest entirely on the rest of the file.
Yes. Emory encourages every applicant, including those applying test optional, to self-report AP scores of 3 or higher on the application, with official reports verifying them only at enrollment. IB results are welcome on the same terms.
Submitter ranges cluster around 1450 to 1540, with nearly all enrolled scores in the 1400 to 1600 band, so we suggest submitting from roughly 1430 upward and leaning on AP and IB evidence below that.
None in policy: one application covers both entry points and the test-optional choice applies equally. Oxford’s smaller liberal-arts campus simply draws a modestly different pool before students continue in Atlanta.
Yes. Emory accepts self-reported scores after deadlines and adds them to the file if review has not yet occurred, though it encourages on-time submission and never delays a review to wait for new results.
Sources: Emory University Admission, College Board SAT Suite, ACT, NCES College Navigator, College Scorecard.
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