Average ACT Scores at the Top 30 US Universities​

After many universities have gone test optional post Covid, high school students find themselves unsure about whether to take or not to take tests. Depending on the universities you are applying to, the answer can change.  At the same time, teens are still being told they need to obtain a “good” score on ACT tests in order to gain admission to the country’s top colleges. Yet, the term “good score” might be misleading for teens planning to apply the best colleges in our nation. What is a good ACT score? How high does a “good ACT score” need to be in order to be competitive? Is a good ACT score the same for every university? Our Opus College Prep experts break down the ACT scores you need to become competitive for the top 30 US universities. 

 

How much do colleges really care about ACT test scores today?

It is true that ACT test scores might not be required by all schools anymore. Many schools have gone test blind and optional. For others, ACT scores are just a small, but important factor for colleges evaluating a candidate’s admissions eligibility. Universities consider academic factors like rigor, GPA, test score and class rank. They also evaluate extracurricular involvement, leadership, honors, awards, and recommendation letters. As important as the test might be, there are a host of factors including personal qualities and school support that matter, too.

 

Two major areas of consideration for universities when evaluating student applications can be both academic and extracurricular achievement. An ACT score can offer universities with perspective on a candidate’s raw academic abilities. Having a high ACT score can confirm to admissions committees that a student can manage the academic rigors of college-level coursework. The test score can be helpful for students where admissions committees might have questions about GPA, grades,or course rigor. For homeschoolers, test scores are helpful as a touchstone.

 

Why else are ACT scores important?

ACT scores are often a marker for universities in offering scholarship money. Many full-ride scholarships are offered on the basis of strong ACT and SAT scores. For students able to achieve high ACT and SAT scores, many universities will automatically offer either tuition discounting or large scholarship awards. Scholarship money can become crucial for students once accepted to a university and earning a high ACT-based scholarship can offer a nice discount in college tuition. 

 

With all these factors to consider, take a look at the average ACT scores for the top 50 US universities:

ACT Statistics for the Top 50 US Universities

     

University

Location

25th Percentile

75th Percentile

Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA

33

34

Boston University

Boston, MA

31

34

Brandeis University

Waltham, MA

31

34

Brown University

Providence, RI

33

35

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, CA

35

36

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA

33

35

Case Western University

Cleveland, OH

32

35

College of William and Mary

Williamsburg, VA

30

34

Columbia University

New York, NY

33

35

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

33

35

Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH

33

35

Duke University

Durham, NC

33

35

Emory University

Atlanta, GA

32

34

Georgetown University

Washington, D.C.

32

35

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

33

36

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD

34

36

Lehigh University

Lehigh, PA

30

34

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA

34

36

New York University

New York, NY

32

35

Northeastern University

Boston, MA

33

35

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

34

35

Pepperdine University

Malibu, CA

25

30

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

33

35

Rice University

Houston, TX

34

35

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

34

35

Tufts University

Medford, MA

33

35

Tufts University

Medford, MA

33

35

Tulane University

New Orleans, LA

30

33

University of Cailfornia-Davis

Davis, CA

25

33

University of California-Irvine

Irvine, FL

26

33

University of California-San Diego

San Diego, CA

28

34

University of California-Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA

28

34

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA

30

35

University of California, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA

N/R

N/R

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

33

35

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL

29

33

University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

Champaign, IL

29

34

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI

31

34

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC

22

27

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

32

35

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

33

35

University of Rochester

Rochester, NY

31

35

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA

32

35

University of Texas-Austin

Austin, TX

27

33

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA

32

35

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

34

35

Villanova University

Villanova, PA

31

34

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, NC

N/R

N/R

Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, MO

33

35

Yale University

New Haven, CT

33

35

 

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