Last Updated: January 30, 2021
Average ACT scores for Top Ranked Universities
A very good way to assess an individual's standing in regards to a particular college is 25th/75th percentile ACT scores. For a particular college, 25% of the students attending that college scored less than the 25th percentile score, and 75% of the students attending that college scored less than the 75th percentile score. Hence, 25th/75th percentile score shows the mid 50% of the students attending that college. Colleges list 25th/75th percentile ACT composite score as well as the 25th/75th percentile score for the individual sections.
University |
ACT 25 Percentile* |
ACT 75 Percentile* |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 33 | 35 |
Stanford University | 31 | 35 |
Harvard University | 32 | 35 |
University of California-Berkeley | 30 | 34 |
University of California-Los Angeles | 28 | 33 |
Yale University | 31 | 35 |
The University of Texas at Austin | 26 | 32 |
Cornell University | 30 | 34 |
California Institute of Technology | 34 | 35 |
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | 30 | 33 |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 26 | 31 |
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | 29 | 33 |
University of Southern California | 30 | 33 |
Dartmouth College | 30 | 34 |
Duke University | 31 | 34 |
Johns Hopkins University | 32 | 34 |
Princeton University | 32 | 35 |
Columbia University in the City of New York | 31 | 35 |
University of Pennsylvania | 31 | 34 |
Carnegie Mellon University | 31 | 34 |
Texas A & M University-College Station | 25 | 30 |
Ohio State University-Main Campus | 27 | 31 |
Northwestern University | 31 | 34 |
Williams College | 31 | 34 |
Swarthmore College | 30 | 34 |
University of California-Santa Barbara | 26 | 31 |
Pomona College | 30 | 34 |
University of Chicago | 32 | 35 |
University of California-San Diego | 28 | 33 |
North Carolina State University at Raleigh | 26 | 31 |
Rice University | 32 | 35 |
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | 25 | 29 |
Brown University | 31 | 34 |
Vanderbilt University | 32 | 35 |
University of Virginia-Main Campus | 29 | 33 |
United States Military Academy | 26 | 31 |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 28 | 33 |
Emory University | 29 | 33 |
University of Notre Dame | 32 | 34 |
University of Wisconsin-Madison | 27 | 31 |
Haverford College | 31 | 34 |
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 28 | 32 |
Case Western Reserve University | 30 | 33 |
University of Washington-Seattle Campus | 26 | 31 |
Georgetown University | 30 | 34 |
Brandeis University | 29 | 32 |
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | 26 | 31 |
New York University | 29 | 32 |
College of William and Mary | 28 | 32 |
Purdue University-Main Campus | 25 | 31 |
Washington University in St Louis | 32 | 34 |
Tufts University | 30 | 33 |
University of California-Irvine | 24 | 29 |
*Composite score
*Some top colleges might be missing (as no data was reported)
*Above list is not in order of rank but they are top 100 colleges.
*Average ACT score is the dividing score of ACT indicating that half the students get more than the average score and half the students get less than the average score. The ACT paper is designed such that the composite score of 20 is the national average ACT score.
How about average SAT score?
Check
Average SAT score for Top Schools
Stanford University
74% applicants had composite score between 30 and 36 (only 4% were accepted).
21% applicants had composite score between 24 and 29 (2% were accepted)
78% applicants were ranked top 10% of high school class (5% were accepted)
The University of Texas at Austin- McCombs School of Business
Average ACT 34
Class rank - top 1.9%.
Acceptance rate ~17%
University of Iowa
Tippie College of Business: The direct admission program dor 2021 requires a minimum of 3.6 GPA in high school and an ACT composite score of 26 or better.
College of Nursing: Minimum Composite ACT required for consideration is 28.
University of Chicago
For the class of 2024
Number of Applicants: 34,372, Accepted: 2,511
ACT Middle 50%: 34-35