What SAT score should you aim for?
Add the colleges you're dreaming about to see the SAT range of admitted students — and get a target score worth aiming for.
Add one or more colleges to see your target score.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard. Ranges describe students who entered in fall 2024 (Scorecard 2024–25 data). Last updated June 4, 2026.
Total-score ranges (≈) are approximate benchmarks we build by adding each section’s reported middle 50% (25th–75th percentile). Colleges report section ranges, not total-score percentiles, so these are not measured total-score ranges; the real total-score middle 50% is usually somewhat narrower.
Testing policies differ by college and change from year to year: some require the SAT or ACT, many are test-optional, and a few do not consider scores at all. At test-optional colleges these ranges describe only the students who chose to send scores. Check each college’s admissions website for its current policy.
Section ranges (R&W and Math) are the middle 50% (25th–75th percentile) of admitted students who submitted SAT scores, as reported to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. Total-score ranges (≈) are approximate: we add the two section ranges, because colleges don't report a total-score percentile. Treat them as a competitive range, not a cutoff (the data year, update date and testing-policy note are above). Your SAT score is one part of a holistic application.
How to read your target score
A useful rule of thumb: scoring at or above a school's approximate 75th-percentile benchmark puts your SAT score in the upper part of its admitted range, the middle of the range is typical, and the 25th-percentile benchmark is roughly the bottom of the admitted middle 50%. We recommend the highest 75th-percentile benchmark across your list, so one goal sits at or above the benchmark for every school on it. That makes your score competitive at each of them; it does not make admission likely anywhere, because the SAT is one part of the application.
What if a school isn't listed?
We only include schools that report SAT data, so fully test-blind colleges and some test-optional ones won't appear. The dataset covers a few hundred of the most-searched institutions today and expands over time.