For years, Georgetown had one of the most unusual standardized-testing policies among highly selective colleges.
Take the SAT three times? Send all three.
Take the ACT twice? Send both.
Take both tests? Georgetown wanted to see the complete testing record.
There was no hiding the ugly Saturday morning when the SAT went sideways. No carefully choosing the test date that showed a student at their best.
Georgetown wanted the whole story.
Not anymore.
For students applying to Georgetown for fall 2027, the university’s current admissions instructions now say applicants must submit at least one full SAT or ACT score.
The longstanding requirement to submit every SAT and ACT sitting is gone.
For students who have taken the SAT or ACT multiple times, this is not a minor administrative change. It changes test-taking strategy. And it removes one of the biggest reasons some students were nervous about retesting.
Georgetown Still Requires Testing
First, do not misread the headline.
Georgetown did not become test-optional.
Quite the opposite.
Georgetown remains firmly test-required — and was among the first elite universities to restore the requirement after COVID, ahead of most of its peers. According to the university’s official announcement, Georgetown cited research from the National Bureau of Economic Research finding that making test scores optional disproportionately harms students from less-resourced high schools.
So this is not Georgetown backing away from standardized testing.
It is Georgetown changing how much of your testing history it needs to see.
And that distinction matters.
The Old Georgetown Rule Made Retesting Different
Most colleges have long allowed some version of score choice.
A student might take the SAT in March and earn a 1420. Take it again in June and earn a 1480. Then take it one final time in August and earn a 1540.
At most colleges, the strategy was straightforward: send the 1540.
Historically, Georgetown was different. Its policy required applicants to submit their complete testing record. That meant students had to think not only about whether another test could improve their score, but also whether another disappointing result would become a permanent part of the record Georgetown reviewed.
The current Georgetown instructions are dramatically simpler. They require applicants to submit at least one full SAT or ACT and official reports directly from College Board or ACT.
Notice what is no longer there: “Submit every test you have ever taken.”
For families who remember Georgetown’s old rules, that is a meaningful change.
This Changes the Risk of Retesting
This may be the most practical takeaway.
Imagine a student has a 1490 SAT. They believe they can reach 1530 or 1550.
Under an all-scores policy, another attempt came with a psychological complication: what happens if the score goes down? Under Georgetown’s old approach, a disappointing result was part of the testing history the admissions office reviewed.
Under the current published policy, Georgetown requires at least one full score — not every sitting.
That makes another attempt much easier to justify strategically. If the score improves, excellent. If it does not, the student is no longer operating under a published requirement that every result join the application.
That reduces the downside of another attempt — and increases the value of planning early enough to allow multiple sittings if needed.
Georgetown Does Not Superscore
According to Georgetown’s official testing requirements page, the university requires at least one full SAT or ACT and does not accept superscores.
This makes Georgetown meaningfully different from many other selective schools.
Suppose a student has:
SAT #1 — Reading and Writing: 760 / Math: 720 / Total: 1480
SAT #2 — Reading and Writing: 720 / Math: 780 / Total: 1500
At a school that superscores, those two tests might combine into a 1540 — the highest section from each sitting. But Georgetown’s published policy is that it does not accept superscores. The student’s strongest complete sitting is the 1500.
This makes single-sitting performance particularly important for Georgetown applicants.
A student considering whether to take the SAT or ACT for Georgetown should think in terms of which test gives them the best opportunity to perform at a high level on a single date — not which test might allow section scores to be combined across sittings.
“Score Choice” Doesn’t Mean You Should Send Exactly One Score
There is a strategic nuance here worth addressing directly.
Just because Georgetown no longer requires every sitting does not mean:
Send exactly one score under every circumstance.
Suppose a student has two strong results that each demonstrate different strengths. Or the testing pattern shows meaningful improvement. Or there is a legitimate reason multiple scores add useful context.
Georgetown’s current language requires at least one complete test. That gives applicants flexibility.
The question changes from:
“What am I forced to disclose?”
to:
“What testing record best supports my application within Georgetown’s rules?”
That is a much better strategic question.
Georgetown Still Wants Official Scores
This is a detail families should not miss.
Georgetown is not following the increasingly common model where applicants self-report scores in the Common App and send an official report only after admission.
Georgetown requires official standardized-test reports at the time of application. SAT scores must come from College Board. ACT scores must come directly from ACT.
This matters because Georgetown began accepting the Common Application for the first time on August 1, 2026. Students can now apply using either Georgetown’s traditional application or the Common App.
The Common App may make applying to Georgetown more convenient.
It does not eliminate Georgetown’s separate official testing requirements.
Do not assume that typing a score into the Common App automatically satisfies Georgetown’s requirement. Follow Georgetown’s instructions and send the official report through College Board or ACT directly.
What About AP Scores?
Georgetown’s reputation for unusual requirements sometimes creates confusion about AP scores.
The current Georgetown undergraduate admissions page says students who have taken AP exams are highly encouraged to submit their scores. It does not describe AP scores as required.
The prior language requiring all SAT and ACT sittings applied to standardized testing — it was not a blanket all-records policy for AP exams as well. Families should review Georgetown’s current instructions directly rather than relying on older guidance or forum posts about what Georgetown required several years ago.
Admissions policies are moving quickly. The instructions published for the current application cycle control.
And Then There Is the Leadership Change
The timing of this policy shift is notable.
For 54 years, Georgetown undergraduate admissions was led by Charles Deacon — one of the longest tenures of any admissions dean at a major university. Deacon joined the admissions office in 1965 and became Dean of Admissions in 1972. He shaped Georgetown’s admissions philosophy for more than half a century, and Georgetown was among the first institutions to restore testing requirements after the pandemic — a decision widely associated with his leadership.
On June 30, 2026, Deacon stepped down from the dean role, becoming Dean of Admissions Emeritus and Senior Advisor. On July 1, Melissa Costanzi became Georgetown’s new Dean of Admissions. She is hardly an outsider — she has worked in Georgetown admissions for more than 30 years — but she is the first new dean in more than five decades.
Then Georgetown began accepting the Common App on August 1.
And its testing instructions no longer contain the all-scores requirement.
Georgetown has not said the leadership transition caused these policy changes. But the combination is notable.
New dean. Common App. Simplified test reporting.
Georgetown admissions in fall 2026 looks meaningfully different than it did a year ago.
Georgetown Is Becoming Easier to Apply To — Not Easier to Get Into
This distinction is important and easy to miss.
Adding the Common App removes friction. Relaxing the all-scores requirement removes friction. Neither makes Georgetown less selective.
In fact, easier applications can have the opposite effect. Georgetown itself said adopting the Common App is intended to broaden its applicant pool and reach students who might not otherwise have applied.
More applicants do not create more seats.
Families should not interpret procedural simplification as declining standards. Georgetown still expects a rigorous transcript, strong grades, thoughtful essays, meaningful activities, letters of recommendation, and standardized test scores.
The front door may be easier to find.
Getting through it is still difficult.
What This Means for SAT and ACT Strategy
For a Georgetown applicant, several immediate lessons follow from these changes.
1. A bad test day is less consequential than it used to be. A student with a strong score who believes another attempt could produce a meaningful improvement is no longer operating under a published requirement that every sitting follows them into the application. That makes retesting a more straightforward decision.
2. Understand Georgetown’s section-specific approach. For the SAT, Georgetown appears to consider the highest section scores across administrations — making it possible to benefit from multiple sittings even without improving the single-sitting total. For the ACT, the strongest complete sitting is what matters most. Students targeting Georgetown should understand how this affects their specific testing profile.
3. Plan the test calendar early enough for real options. The best way to benefit from score choice is to have choices. A student who waits until October of senior year for a first serious attempt has very little room to maneuver. A student who begins earlier can establish a baseline, identify the better test, prepare strategically, evaluate results, and retest if there is a realistic opportunity for improvement.
4. Do not test repeatedly without a reason. The disappearance of an all-scores requirement does not mean students should test endlessly. Another attempt makes sense when practice scores have risen, a specific weakness has been corrected, timing has improved, or the student underperformed relative to recent preparation. Taking another official test without doing anything differently is not a strategy.
5. Follow the policy that exists when you apply. College admissions policies are moving quickly. Columbia recently restored required testing. Yale strengthened its requirement. And now Georgetown has quietly simplified a test-reporting rule that had existed for years. Do not rely on what an older sibling did, a five-year-old forum post, or a school counselor’s spreadsheet from last year. Check the college’s current admissions page before submitting.
There Is a Bigger Lesson Here
For years, Georgetown’s all-scores policy created an unusual incentive structure. Students knew that every test could follow them into the application.
Now that restriction appears to be gone.
But Georgetown has not concluded that testing no longer matters. It has done the opposite — it still requires the SAT or ACT, with official reports, and it has maintained that position more consistently than almost any other elite institution.
That combination tells families something important.
The question in selective admissions is increasingly becoming less “should students test?” and more “how should students use testing strategically?”
For a strong student, a standardized-test score is not simply another box to check. It is part of the academic case.
And now Georgetown applicants have more control over which testing evidence they use to make that case.
Final Thought
For years, applying to Georgetown meant accepting a unique bargain: We want your scores — and we want all of them.
The first half remains.
The second half appears to be gone.
Georgetown’s current rules require at least one complete SAT or ACT, require official reporting, and appear to use section-specific best scores across SAT sittings while evaluating the strongest single ACT sitting. But the university no longer tells main-campus applicants that every SAT and ACT result must be submitted.
For students, that is good news.
It removes some of the downside of retesting. It gives families more control over the testing profile they present. And it makes smart SAT and ACT planning even more valuable.
Because once you have choices, the question is no longer simply: What score did I get?
It becomes: What is the strongest testing profile I can build — and which results best represent what I can do?
That is where strategy matters.
