A good SAT score for the Ivy League is above a 1550, which is a near-perfect score.
However, SAT scores in the 1450 –1600 range may be competitive for the Ivies and other top-tier schools. Check out the real data on admissions to the Ivies below and get tips from a Princeton grad on how to increase your chances of admission.
What is a good SAT score for the Ivy League?
In this post, we’ll explore:
What is the Ivy League? (And why Stanford is not an Ivy.)
We’ve all heard of the Ivy League.
For most of us, “the Ivy League” is synonymous with the best universities and brilliant students. It may conjure images of privilege, power, and preppy outfits. Some of this is true — although as a Princeton grad myself I’d challenge some of those stereotypes.
However, many people are surprised that Stanford isn’t an Ivy League school!
Nor is MIT, Duke, or NYU.
While people often speak of “the Ivy League” when they want to refer to the very best colleges and universities in the US, the Ivy League is actually technically an athletic league.
The eight Ivy League schools are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth.
All eight Ivy League schools are consistently ranked among the top 20 schools in the US. They’re all centuries old and have enormous resources to create amazing college experiences for their students.
But there are other colleges and universities that are also ranked equally with the Ivy League — or even higher than the “easier” Ivies like Cornell and Dartmouth.
That’s why people often refer to the “Ivies Plus,” a flexible list of the best twenty-ish schools in the US.
Schools that are not Ivy League but are regularly members of the Ivies Plus list include: Stanford, MIT, UChicago, Duke, Caltech, Northwestern, Rice, Johns Hopkins, Rice, and Vanderbilt. The list might also include Notre Dame, UCLA, WashU, USC, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Virginia.
The Ivy League is mostly composed of research universities, but Dartmouth is a liberal arts college. There are also highly selective liberal arts colleges that don’t appear on the Ivies Plus list, but which may be of interest to students aiming at top-tier schools. Some of the best liberal arts colleges in the US include Pomona, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Wellesley, Colby, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, and Claremont McKenna.
Because students and families often use “the Ivy League” to refer to any of these highly-selective and top-ranked universities more broadly, I’ve included data for not just the 8 official Ivy League schools, but also these highly selective colleges and universities that are the very best in the US.
So…what test scores do you need to get in to an Ivy League school?
What’s a good SAT score for the Ivy League?
If you’re looking for a single, easy number to aim for, my expert advice would be to score at least a 1550 on the SAT to be unequivocally competitive for the Ivy League in terms of test scores.
However, using the data, it’s possible that we can broaden the range of good SAT scores for the Ivy League and other top-tier schools.
Most colleges and universities publish data for the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile SAT scores of their freshman class.
This data tells us the range of SAT scores of half of their student body. We sometimes refer to it as the “middle 50,” because 50% of students at that school have scores within that range.
Here’s a good set of guidelines, based on the idea of a balanced college list:
Safety schools: your test scores and GPA should be above the 75th percentile, and the school should have an admittance rate greater than 30%
Target schools: your test scores and GPA should be within the middle 50% of students, ideally closer to the top of the range
Reach schools: your test scores and GPA can be lower than the 25th percentile, but this will make you unlikely to be admitted unless you have truly amazing extracurriculars or college essays!
When I work with students one-on-one for test prep or college essay coaching, I often help them make sure that their college lists are balanced for the strength of their application. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at info@ivybloomacademics.com.
In a nutshell, a competitive SAT score for a given school is at least average for that school (in the middle 50% range), and ideally at the high end of that range. An SAT score above that middle 50% range is definitely a good score for that school.
So what SAT score do you need to be a competitive applicant at the top-tier schools?
The average SAT score at the Ivy League schools is between 1446 and 1566, or 736–796 for Math and 710–770 for Reading and Writing.
The data for the top 20 universities in the US is nearly identical. The average SAT score at the top 20 is between 1450 and 1564, or 740–797 for Math and 711–768 for Reading and Writing.
If we look at the 30 top-ranked liberal arts colleges in the US, the average SAT score is between 1318 and 1495. (For individual test sections, the average is 658–735 Reading & Writing and 660–759 Math.)
This data means that if you’re seriously aiming at an Ivy League school or another top-tier school in the US, you could use these benchmarks as goals for your SAT scores:
Are these SAT scores super high?
Yes, the absolutely are. Only a tiny fraction of students are going to achieve near-perfect SAT scores like these.
But then, only a small number of students are going to earn admission to the Ivy League and other top-tier schools — that’s why these schools are prestigious in the first place.
Here’s the more granular data for the average SAT scores at the Ivy League:
Score range of middle 50% of students at the Ivy League:
SAT Reading SAT Math
Yale 730–780 750–800
Harvard 730–780 750–800
Princeton 720–770 740–800
Columbia 720–770 750–800
Penn 720–770 760–780
Brown 720–770 740–800
Cornell 700–760 750–800
Dartmouth 710–770 730–790
Here’s the data for the average SAT scores at other highly-selective universities regularly ranked in the top 20 (“Ivies Plus”):
Score range of middle 50% of students:
SAT Reading SAT Math
MIT 730–780 780–800
UChicago 740–780 770–800
Stanford 720–770 750–800
Caltech 740–780 790–800
Rice 720–770 770–780
WashU 730–770 760–800
Johns Hopkins 720–760 750–800
Vanderbilt 720–770 760–800
SAT Reading SAT Math
Carnegie Mellon 710–760 770–800
Northwestern 720–770 750–800
NYU 700–770 750–800
Duke 730–770 740–790
Notre Dame 700–760 710–790
Georgetown 700–760 710–780
Emory 690–750 730–790
USC 690–750 720–790
UVirginia 690–750 690–750
Finally, here are the average SAT scores at some of the best liberal arts colleges in the nation:
Score range of middle 50% of students at top liberal arts colleges:
SAT Reading SAT Math
Williams 700–770 710–790
Pomona 730–770 740–800
Amherst 710–770 720–790
Harvey Mudd 720–770 770–800
Swarthmore 710–770 720–790
Colby 680–740 700–780
Bowdoin 660–740 670–770
Wellesley 680–750 670–770
Carleton 660–750 670–770
Middlebury 670–750 670–770
Claremont McKenna 660–730 670–770
Want to know the SAT score ranges for more schools? Get the SAT score data for 975 colleges and universities and check what SAT score you need for the colleges on your list.
If your SAT scores still aren’t high enough to be competitive for the Ivy League or another highly-selective college or university, don’t worry. With the right study and practice, most students are able to raise their test scores.
On average, the students I work with one-on-one for SAT prep are able to improve their scores by about 250+ points. I myself am a top 1% scorer and Princeton grad, and my students say I’m particularly good at explaining tough test questions.
Over the years, I’ve helped many high-achieving students reach perfect or near-perfect scores on the SAT and ultimately get admissions offers from the Ivy League or other top-20 schools. If you’d like to work with me for SAT test prep, sign up here or reach out at info@ivybloomacademics.com.
Test scores are not enough
Believe it or not, but it’s possible to be rejected from Harvard with a perfect 1600 SAT.
Each year, there are about 6,000 students who score a perfect 1600 SAT or a perfect 36 ACT.
If all of these students applied to Harvard (and many will), that’s far too many perfect-scoring students to be admitted to Harvard’s incoming class of 1,950 students.
As rare as it is to score above 1550 on the SAT, there simply aren’t enough spots at the top colleges and universities for all of the students with just high test scores.
That’s one reason that strong test scores alone are not enough to gain admission to the best schools in the country.
The other reason is that test scores only give a single data point about students.
Most admissions officers will say it’s a useful data point. The SAT allows colleges to check that students have a strong grasp of core concepts in English and Math. Test scores aren’t subject to the kind of grade inflation that’s rampant at certain schools, and they’re very hard to fake.
Test scores can be used to confirm a student’s academic abilities, and they can help earn students the benefit of the doubt if they have a B on their transcript or an error in their essays.
Tom Campbell, former Admissions Officer at Pomona, has explained that when test scores aren’t submitted (Pomona is currently test-optional), then the student’s transcript, course rigor, and essays are all subjected to greater scrutiny. Without test scores, for example, he said that writing mistakes in the application essays are more likely to land students in the reject pile.
Strong test scores tend to help get your foot in the door at highly-selective schools like the Ivies — they’re an immediate quantitative signal to admissions officers that you’re a potential contender for admission. Test scores and GPA tend to be used more for the first “weeding out” round of reading applications, ensuring that the admissions officers take a serious look at your course rigor, college essays, extracurriculars, and other elements of your application.
If you have any weak spots on the rest of your application, then test scores can be more important for your individual situation.
By the summer before your senior year, it’s too late to change your grades or your course rigor. Your extracurricular activities are largely completed, too — there’s still enough time to accomplish a final project, but time is running out.
That means that when it’s the August before your senior year, the only elements of your application that you can still strengthen are your essays and your test scores.
You don’t have to do this alone, though! Every year I work individually with a select number of students to raise their SAT scores or write amazing college essays.
If you’d like to work one-on-one for test prep or college essay coaching, sign up today or reach out to me at info@ivybloomacademics.com.
Get a good SAT score for the Ivy League
With the right test prep, most students are able to raise their SAT scores.
The students I work with one-on-one for tailored SAT prep are typically able to raise their scores by about 250+ points. It can be tougher to make large gains in the higher score ranges, but it’s definitely possible.
If your initial SAT score is at least a 1300, you may be able to raise your score high enough to be competitive for the Ivy League and other top-tier colleges.
Right now I’m sharing 5 days of expert SAT tips and exercises delivered to your inbox for free.
Alternatively, if you’d like to join my current student roster for 100% customized one-on-one test prep, you can sign up here or reach out at info@ivybloomacademics.com.
Happy studying!