Colleges That Accept the Duolingo English Test (2026–27): What 487 Colleges List, and Where the List Falls Short

If English isn't your first language, many US colleges will ask for an English test score with your application. The three you'll hear about most are the TOEFL, the IELTS and the Duolingo English Test, and the Common App's 2026–27 requirements grid has a column for exactly this question: which English tests each college accepts from international applicants whose first language isn't English.

Of the 1,126 colleges on the grid, 487 name their tests. The TOEFL is on 483 of those lists, the IELTS on 458, the Duolingo English Test on 370, the PTE Academic on 162 and Cambridge English on 77. Another 638 say "see website", which the grid uses when a college's rules are too complex for the space, and one entry, Hillsdale College's, shows a spreadsheet error.

The selective colleges that list tests all take Duolingo

Of the 82 colleges in our data that are on the grid and admit fewer than 35% of applicants, 23 name their English tests, and all 23 list the Duolingo English Test. They are Caltech, Columbia, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, Pomona, Haverford, Harvey Mudd, Davidson, Tulane, Wesleyan, Babson, Denison, Colorado College, Vassar, the University of Miami, Florida A&M, Wake Forest, UT Austin, Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Kenyon, William & Mary and the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

We checked five of them against their own international admissions pages, Caltech, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn and UT Austin, and all five list the Duolingo English Test there too. Six of the 23 also list Cambridge English (Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvey Mudd, Wesleyan, Babson and Villanova), and Villanova is the only one that lists all five tests.

The other 59 say "see website", including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Duke and Johns Hopkins. For them, the college's own international page is the only place to look.

Where the grid leaves Duolingo out, check anyway

At 117 colleges, the grid lists English tests without the Duolingo English Test. That's a reason to look closer, not a final answer, because the grid isn't always complete. In October 2026 we checked 20 of those colleges against their own first-year international admissions pages.

Nine list the Duolingo English Test on their own pages anyway: Pepperdine, the University of Denver, Hofstra, Oklahoma State, Kalamazoo College, Virginia Military Institute, Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Plattsburgh. Hofstra's grid entry shows only the TOEFL, while its own page also lists the IELTS, the PTE and Duolingo.

Eight leave it off their own pages too: the University of Georgia, Texas A&M, Auburn, SUNY New Paltz, Salisbury, New College of Florida, Southwestern University and Wagner College. A college that doesn't list a test may still consider it case by case, so if Duolingo is the test you have, ask before you rule one out.

One says no outright. Westmont College's page says it does not currently accept the Duolingo English Test.

We couldn't check UMass Amherst or SUNY Brockport, because their pages didn't load for us.

What the grid doesn't tell you

The grid lists tests, not minimum scores or exemptions, and the minimums vary from college to college. Those are on each college's own page, and they're the numbers to plan around.

Timing matters as well. On the same grid, 189 colleges set their Regular Decision deadline in January, 109 of them on January 15. Check when each college needs your score, and leave yourself room for a retake.

If you're applying from outside the US, the other numbers run alongside this one: how international acceptance rates compare with US rates at 64 private colleges, which US colleges give international students aid, and how Early Decision works from abroad.

Before your applications go in, put your whole list in and see, free, what each college published about its early round and where your score sits. The answer across your whole list is the paid document.

English tests are from the "English proficiency" column of the Common App's 2026–27 first-year deadlines, fees and requirements grid (updated September 25, 2026). College admissions pages were read October 19, 2026. Admit rates are federal figures from College Scorecard.