Common App's 2025-26 report: more students sent test scores than did not, for the first time since 2019-20

On August 20, 2026, Common App published its end-of-season report on first-year applications for 2025-26, the season that just ended. The main numbers:

• Applicants rose 2%, from 1,495,475 to 1,527,328.
• Applications rose 6%, from 10,157,068 to 10,786,782.
• Colleges per applicant went from 6.79 to 7.06 on average.
• First-generation applicants grew 6%.
• International applicants fell 10%, with India down 15%.

The finding families will notice is about test scores. "The number of applicants reporting a test score grew by 11%," while the number who did not report one "decreased by 5%." Score reporters "outnumbered those not reporting for the first time since the 2019-20 season." Only 5% of Common App members required a test score to apply in 2025-26.

If you are a senior applying this fall, the pool around you grew mostly because students applied to more places, not because many more students applied. UT Austin alone drew a record 98,841 applications.

On tests, a college that is test-optional is still test-optional. But you are now in a pool where more applicants send a score than do not. When a college lists a middle range of scores, look at it: if your score sits inside or above it, sending it is usually worth doing. If it sits below, leaving it off is what test-optional is for. At a test-blind college, scores are not read at all, whatever they are.

If you are a junior, this is the trend line to watch, along with the SAT's own report, before you decide how much time to put into testing next spring.