Colleges With the Highest SAT Scores
Average SAT totals show how academically prepared a college’s enrolling class was, and they are closely tied to selectivity. This ranking sorts four-year colleges by the average SAT total, math and reading combined, for students who submitted scores.
We ranked 853 four-year colleges with at least 500 undergraduates and a reported SAT average, and show the top 50. The median average is 1,180 out of 1600, the highest is 1,560, and the school in 50th place is at 1,486. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranks first, and Massachusetts has the most entries with 9. The median acceptance rate among qualifiers is 75%.
Only students who submit scores are counted, so at test-optional schools the average can be higher than for the whole class. Scores say nothing about fit or outcomes, and many selective colleges no longer report them at all.
Use the SAT ranges on each profile to see whether your own scores fall inside the middle half of admitted students, which is a better guide than the average alone.
How this list is built
A college appears here only if it meets every condition below.
- Colleges considered
- All 4-year colleges (public, private nonprofit and for-profit)
- Ranked by average sat, highest first. Ties are broken by larger undergraduate enrollment, then by name.
- Main campuses only, with at least 60% of core data fields reported
- At least 500 undergraduate students enrolled (fall 2024)
- A reported average sat value (schools without one are not ranked)
- Data period
- SAT average: total of math and reading for fall 2024 students who submitted scores.
- Acceptance rate: fall 2024 applicants admitted.
- Net price: average for students receiving aid, academic year 2023-24.
- Graduation rate: first-time, full-time students who started in fall 2018 (4-year) or fall 2021 (2-year), finishing within 150% of normal time.
- Earnings: median earnings four years after completing, measured in 2022 and 2023 for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 cohorts, in 2024 dollars.
- Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, June 2026 release.
Showing the top 50 of 853 qualifying schools. Select a column heading to re-sort the table.
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,560 | 5% | $20,111 | 96% | $161,961 |
| 2 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,554 | 4% | $14,860 | 95% | $127,757 |
| 3 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,553 | 5% | $28,699 | 97% | $124,586 |
| 4 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,553 | 4% | $21,590 | 96% | $115,519 |
| 5 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,553 | 4% | $19,066 | 97% | $134,794 |
| 6 | Stanford University Stanford, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,553 | 4% | $13,807 | 92% | $136,959 |
| 7 | Princeton University Princeton, NJ Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,553 | 5% | $6,128 | 97% | $108,590 |
| 8 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,553 | 6% | $18,809 | 94% | $117,419 |
| 9 | Rice University Houston, TX Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,553 | 8% | $13,370 | 95% | $110,080 |
| 10 | Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,549 | 6% | $15,846 | 93% | $101,204 |
| 11 | Duke University Durham, NC Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,548 | 6% | $29,612 | 96% | $115,722 |
| 12 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,546 | 12% | $31,944 | 93% | $132,971 |
| 13 | Brown University Providence, RI Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,546 | 5% | $25,184 | 96% | $94,678 |
| 14 | Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,545 | 13% | $35,924 | 93% | $137,100 |
| 15 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,535 | 9% | $28,690 | 95% | $113,372 |
| 16 | Yale University New Haven, CT Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,534 | 4% | $23,777 | 96% | $112,971 |
| 17 | Dartmouth College Hanover, NH Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,534 | 5% | $29,519 | 96% | $111,883 |
| 18 | Pomona College Claremont, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,534 | 7% | $19,285 | 93% | $77,544 |
| 19 | Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,534 | 7% | $23,149 | 93% | $65,618 |
| 20 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,533 | 8% | $29,167 | 96% | $109,275 |
| 21 | Williams College Williamstown, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,533 | 8% | $17,716 | 95% | $80,487 |
| 22 | Amherst College Amherst, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,533 | 9% | $23,367 | 94% | $79,243 |
| 23 | Washington University in St Louis St. Louis, MO Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,530 | 12% | $21,786 | 94% | $95,899 |
| 24 | Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,527 | 10% | $28,849 | 93% | $110,798 |
| 25 | New York University New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,520 | 9% | $37,050 | 88% | $89,427 |
| 26 | University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,520 | 11% | $26,780 | 96% | $100,684 |
| 27 | Emory University Atlanta, GA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,520 | 11% | $22,585 | 91% | $90,139 |
| 28 | Barnard College New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,520 | 9% | $28,800 | 93% | $72,527 |
| 29 | Wellesley College Wellesley, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,520 | 14% | $25,496 | 91% | $72,449 |
| 30 | Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,520 | 7% | $14,398 | 95% | $79,722 |
| 31 | Carleton College Northfield, MN Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,517 | 20% | $25,407 | 90% | $66,841 |
| 32 | Tufts University Medford, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,513 | 11% | $39,998 | 93% | $97,474 |
| 33 | Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,513 | 37% | $41,190 | 87% | $94,237 |
| 34 | Haverford College Haverford, PA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,513 | 12% | $25,314 | 90% | $64,523 |
| 35 | Colgate University Hamilton, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,508 | 14% | $28,786 | 91% | $77,917 |
| 36 | Middlebury College Middlebury, VT Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,508 | 11% | $31,483 | 92% | $71,188 |
| 37 | Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,507 | 16% | $41,704 | 91% | $96,145 |
| 38 | Hamilton College Clinton, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,506 | 14% | $28,985 | 91% | $79,130 |
| 39 | Wesleyan University Middletown, CT Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,501 | 16% | $30,177 | 92% | $72,119 |
| 40 | Colby College Waterville, ME Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,501 | 7% | $17,180 | 89% | $77,429 |
| 41 | Smith College Northampton, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,500 | 21% | $27,579 | 89% | $57,618 |
| 42 | Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,498 | 14% | $23,781 | 94% | $100,514 |
| 43 | Northeastern University Boston, MA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,497 | 5% | $30,915 | 90% | $101,903 |
| 44 | University of Richmond University of Richmond, VA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,497 | 22% | $31,309 | 86% | $84,260 |
| 45 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,495 | 10% | $32,740 | 92% | $95,739 |
| 46 | Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,494 | 19% | $39,343 | 90% | $61,818 |
| 47 | Scripps College Claremont, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,492 | 38% | $36,294 | 85% | $75,301 |
| 48 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,488 | 40% | $29,278 | 85% | $87,197 |
| 49 | Georgetown University Washington, DC Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,487 | 13% | $40,815 | 95% | $119,773 |
| 50 | Grinnell College Grinnell, IA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 1,486 | 15% | $17,648 | 88% | $58,955 |
States with schools on this list
Browse every college in these states.