Average SAT scores for top universities

Average SAT scores distribution, percentile, old-to-new SAT score conversion table

SAT is a well-known test, in the United States, for students in their grades 11 and 12. It is one of the two widely accepted, ACT being the other, standardized tests that help colleges, teachers, parents, and students alike, to check their college readiness.

Given the vastness of various means and resources afforded at different parts of the country, let alone the possibilities of international undergraduate applicants, the SAT test helps to verify how equipped the students are at following the path of advanced higher education, in a university system.

The main SAT exam tests for Math and reading/writing comprehension in the Evidence Based Reading Writing (EBRW/ERW). Up until 2016, SAT followed an old pattern which was disregarded for the new, more relevant to the level of high-school education normally imparted. The new SAT is also claimed to be closer to its competitor, the ACT exam.

Read,
–SAT Exam Syllabus: General Test Pattern
–ACT Exam

Currently, SAT statistics show that as many as over 1.7 million test-takers appear for the exam, annually. Universities use their scores along with a medley of other parameters like the GPA, class rank, extra-curricular activities, and more, in a consolidated holistic admission process. However, given its standardized nature, it seems quite obvious that the SAT/ACT scores do play a mighty important role, nevertheless.

In this article, we will talk about the Average SAT Score, as obtained from the undergraduate admission statistics (2023-2024) of some of the top universities in USA (though some did relax the SAT test requirement during the Covid pandemic). . The university list has been borrowed from the QS World University Rankings. We will also take a quick look at the average SAT performance among the various test-takers in recent years. For completeness sake, we have also included the conversion table for SAT old (prior to 2016) and new scores for those old timers who want to compare their previous performances with the recent scoring system

Average SAT Scores for Undergraduate Admission at Top Universities

University	Average SAT Scores (25^th to 75^th Percentiles)
MIT	SAT Math: 780-800 SAT ERW: 740-780
Stanford University	SAT Math: 740-800 SAT EBRW: 700-770
Harvard University	SAT Math: 740-800 SAT EBRW: 720-780
Caltech (moratorium on SAT requirement in recent years)	SAT Math: 790-800 SAT EBRW: 740-780
University of Chicago	SAT Math: 770-800 SAT EBRW: 730-770
University of Pennsylvania	SAT Math: 770-800 SAT ERW: 730-780
Princeton University	SAT Math: 760-800 SAT ERW: 730-780
Yale University	SAT Math: 740-790 SAT ERW: 720-770
Cornell University	SAT Math: 770-790 SAT ERW: 720-750
Columbia University	SAT Middle 50%: 1490-1560 Historic: SAT Math: 740-800 SAT ERW: 720-770
Johns Hopkins University	SAT Middle 50%: 1520-1560 Historic: Math: 750-800 EBRW: 720-760
University of Michigan Ann Arbor	Median range 1440 – 1540 Historic: Math: 680-780 EBRW: 660-740
University of California at Berkeley	SAT Math: 680-790 SAT EBRW: 660-750
Northwestern University	Middle 50%: 1460-1540 Historic: SAT Math: 730-790 SAT EBRW: 700-760
New York University	Middle 50%: 1350-1530 Historic: SAT Math: 700-800 SAT EBRW: 670-740
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)	International admits 25^thto 75^th percentile: 1480-1550 Historic: SAT Math: 690-790 SAT EBRW: 670-760
Duke University	Middle 50%: 1510-1570 Historic: SAT Math: 750-800 SAT EBRW: 720-760
Carnegie Mellon University	SAT Math: 770-800 SAT EBRW: 710-760
University of California San Diego (UCSD)	SAT Math: 660-770 SAT EBRW: 640-730
Brown University	Middle 50%: 1500-1570

SAT Score Distribution

Based on a report published by College Board, for performance highlights on the 2022 SAT Exams, more than 1.7 million students took the SAT. Despite the relaxed college requirements due to the Covid pandemic, the number of test takers actually went up from 1.5 million in 2021. More than 80% of them were able to send their scores for college applications with 43% of the test takers exceeding the ERW and Math college readiness benchmarks in the test.

Here is a distribution of the various scores, based on the performance of these 2022 test-takers.

SAT Scores Percentiles

SAT Scores Old to New Conversion Table

Though no longer relevant, since its change from old SAT format to the new one since 2016, we have still included the old to new score conversion table below for those who like to see how the two scoring systems compare. This was obtained from College Board Concordance Tables providing a quick and easy comparison. The old scores were out of 2400.

The tables below show a section wise comparison – Old SAT Math and Reading & Writing Mapped to the New SAT Math and EBRW.

Old SAT Math Section (200-800)	New SAT Math Section	Old SAT Writing plus Critical Reading Sections (400-1000)	New SAT EBRW Section	Old SAT Writing plus Critical Reading Sections (1010-1600)	New SAT EBRW Section
200	200	400	200	1010	560
210	220	410	210	1020	570
220	230	420	220	1030	570
230	250	430	230	1040	580
240	260	440	240	1050	580
250	280	450	260	1060	590
260	300	460	270	1070	590
270	310	470	280	1080	600
280	330	480	290	1090	600
290	340	490	300	1100	610
300	350	500	310	1110	610
310	360	510	310	1120	620
320	360	520	320	1130	620
330	370	530	320	1140	630
340	380	540	330	1150	630
350	390	550	330	1160	640
360	400	560	330	1170	640
370	410	570	340	1180	650
380	420	580	340	1190	650
390	430	590	350	1200	650
400	440	600	350	1210	660
410	450	610	360	1220	660
420	460	620	360	1230	670
430	470	630	360	1240	670
440	480	640	370	1250	680
450	490	650	370	1260	680
460	500	660	380	1270	680
470	510	670	380	1280	690
480	510	680	390	1290	690
490	520	690	390	1300	700
500	530	700	400	1310	700
510	540	710	400	1320	700
520	550	720	410	1330	710
530	560	730	410	1340	710
540	570	740	420	1350	710
550	570	750	420	1360	720
560	580	760	430	1370	720
570	590	770	430	1380	730
580	600	780	440	1390	730
590	610	790	440	1400	730
600	620	800	450	1410	740
610	630	810	450	1420	740
620	640	820	460	1430	740
630	650	830	460	1440	750
640	660	840	470	1450	750
650	670	850	480	1460	750
660	690	860	480	1470	760
670	700	870	490	1480	760
680	710	880	490	1490	760
690	720	890	500	1500	770
700	730	900	500	1510	770
710	740	910	510	1520	770
720	750	920	510	1530	780
730	760	930	520	1540	780
740	760	940	530	1550	780
750	770	950	530	1560	790
760	780	960	540	1570	790
770	780	970	540	1580	800
780	790	980	550	1590	800
790	800	990	550	1600	800
800	800	1000	560

That concludes the discussion on SAT scores – What do the top universities expect? What is the distribution, including the average SAT score, among all the test-takers? And finally, how will you be able to map the old SAT to the new SAT scores.

Good Luck with your venture into college readiness.