Johns Hopkins University Resumes Standardized Test Requirement for Admissions

A general view of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore on March 28, 2020. Rob Carr/Getty Images

Johns Hopkins University will once again require prospective undergraduate students to take standardized tests, doing away with the test-optional policy adopted in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting with students applying for the fall 2026 semester, Johns Hopkins will require the submission of SAT or ACT test scores as part of its “holistic admissions review process,” university administrators said in an Aug. 15 statement.

Those applying to enter Johns Hopkins in fall 2025, who may have limited time to prepare for or take the tests, are not required to submit test scores, although they are still encouraged to do so, according to the statement.

This year has seen a growing number of highly selective institutions, including Yale University, Harvard University, Cornell University, and Stanford University, returning to their previous standardized testing requirements.

In the case of Johns Hopkins, the university’s review of its own data found that students opting not to submit an SAT or ACT test score tended to have relatively lower grade point averages (GPA), even after controlling for a variety of demographic and socioeconomic factors and choice of first-year major.

In addition, the average GPA of first-year students who didn’t submit test scores was about the same as that of students whose test scores were in the lowest 25 percent, according to the university. Those who were admitted without test scores were also found to be more likely than their peers to get a “D” or “F” or to withdraw from classes.

Johns Hopkins’s review also found that going test-optional might have discouraged applicants of first-generation, low-income, or underrepresented backgrounds from submitting test scores, which would have boosted their chances of being admitted.

“We cannot know for sure,” the university said. “But in addition to those applicants who submitted and then suppressed their scores, there may also have been other less-advantaged, high-scoring applicants who did not submit their test scores at all, a lost opportunity for them and for our university.”

Johns Hopkins further emphasized that its findings were consistent with those of several peer institutions when examining their data from recent periods of test-optional admissions.

“Numerous studies have shown that standardized test scores are highly correlated with success in college measured via grade point average, retention rates, four-year graduation rates, and even a propensity to take more difficult courses and pursue more challenging majors,” it noted.

More than a year after the end of the national COVID-19 emergency, most of the universities in the United States still do not require applicants to submit standardized test scores.

Some institutions, notably Columbia University and the California State University system, have permanently shifted to test-optional or test-free admissions.