SAT score ranges at top US universities (official data)

"What SAT score do I need for Harvard?" Universities don't publish cut-offs, but every US university that takes federal student aid reports the SAT scores of its entering students to the US Department of Education. The figures below come from the College Scorecard release of November 2, 2026. The scores are for students who entered in Fall 2024.

How to read the numbers

• 25th-75th percentile: the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores. A quarter scored below the first number, and a quarter scored above the second.
• Reading and Writing and Math are separate section scores, each from 200 to 800. The College Board's total range is 400-1600.
• Average SAT is the Scorecard field "average SAT equivalent score of students admitted".
• Who is counted: these are scores of students who submitted them. At test-optional schools, students with lower scores were more likely not to submit, so the real middle 50% of all students may be lower. Don't treat the 25th percentile as a safe minimum.
• Missing schools: some top universities, such as Caltech and the University of California campuses, have no SAT figures in the Scorecard for Fall 2024. The UC campuses do not use SAT scores in admission.

The most selective universities

Universities with at least 1,500 undergraduates, sorted by admission rate (Fall 2024):

University	Admission rate	Reading & Writing 25-75	Math 25-75	Average SAT
Stanford University	3.6%	740-780	770-800	1553
Harvard University	3.6%	740-780	770-800	1553
Yale University	3.9%	730-780	740-790	1534
Columbia University	4.0%	740-780	770-800	1553
University of Chicago	4.5%	740-780	770-800	1554
MIT	4.5%	740-780	780-800	1560
Princeton University	4.6%	740-780	770-800	1553
Northeastern University	5.2%	710-760	730-780	1497
Brown University	5.4%	740-780	770-800	1546
Dartmouth College	5.4%	740-780	760-790	1534
University of Pennsylvania	5.4%	740-770	770-800	1553
Duke University	5.7%	740-770	760-800	1548
Vanderbilt University	5.9%	730-770	770-800	1549
Johns Hopkins University	6.4%	740-770	780-800	1553
Colby College	7.1%	720-760	740-790	1501
Pomona College	7.1%	740-770	750-790	1534
Bowdoin College	7.1%	730-770	740-780	1520
Swarthmore College	7.5%	740-770	750-790	1534
Northwestern University	7.7%	740-770	770-800	1533
Rice University	8.0%	740-770	770-800	1553
Williams College	8.2%	740-780	750-790	1533
Cornell University	8.8%	730-770	770-800	1535
Barnard College	8.8%	730-770	740-790	1520
Amherst College	9.0%	740-780	750-800	1533
New York University	9.2%	720-760	760-800	1520
University of Southern California	9.8%	710-760	740-790	1495
Emory University	10.7%	720-760	750-790	1520
Middlebury College	10.8%	720-760	725-790	1508
Boston University	11.1%	690-750	730-780	1480

Top public universities

Public universities with at least 1,500 undergraduates and the highest average SAT:

University	Admission rate	Reading & Writing 25-75	Math 25-75	Average SAT
Georgia Institute of Technology	14.1%	680-750	690-790	1480
University of Virginia	16.8%	700-760	710-780	1480
William & Mary	34.1%	710-760	690-770	1473
University of Maryland, College Park	44.8%	690-750	710-780	1473
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	15.6%	680-750	680-780	1465
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	42.4%	650-740	660-780	1440
UNC-Chapel Hill	15.3%	690-750	700-780	1439
University of Wisconsin-Madison	45.2%	670-740	710-780	1427
UMass Amherst	59.7%	650-730	660-770	1423
Stony Brook University	49.0%	650-730	680-770	1419
Binghamton University	38.6%	670-740	670-760	1415
Colorado School of Mines	60.7%	650-730	670-750	1412
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	58.1%	650-730	660-770	1410
University of Florida	24.2%	660-730	660-750	1403
University of Georgia	37.7%	640-730	630-750	1397

At public universities, the admission rate covers all applicants together. The rate for out-of-state and international applicants can be different, and the Scorecard does not report it separately.

What the data shows

1. At the most selective universities, Math is the steeper section. At many of them the 75th percentile in Math is 800, the maximum. The 25th percentile in Math is often 760-780.
2. Reading and Writing ranges are tighter but high. They are typically 730-780. For non-native speakers this is often the harder section to push into the 700s, so plan your preparation time accordingly.
3. Top public universities sit a little lower, with averages around 1400-1480, but they admit many more students.
4. A score above the 75th percentile doesn't guarantee admission. These universities admit only a few percent of applicants, and most of the decision rests on grades, courses, essays, recommendations and activities.

Look up any school

Every US university on this site has a profile built from the same official data: admission rate, SAT and ACT ranges, cost and test policy. For about 150 of the most selective schools, the test policy was checked on the school's own website in November 2026.

When you know your target range, the UCSAT app helps you work towards it, one section at a time.