The SAT still may be the most widely recognized test in the country, but it’s no longer the most accepted.

Even the top colleges in the nation display average ACT scores in their statistics, and all four-year universities will now accept the ACT as your only test score in your application. In fact, the schools in the Ivy League were some of the first to accept ACT scores!

A college’s preferred test used to be based on geography: the West and Northeast had more students who took the SAT, while the average student in the South and Midwest took the ACT.

Now students all over the country are taking the test that best shows off their skills – and sometimes they take both! University of Notre Dame reflects this trend in their average ACT and SAT stats, which are split evenly between the two tests.

Check out the average ACT scores at some other top schools around the country:

Colleges and Universities	Average ACT Score (Middle 50%)
Amherst College	29-34
Bowdoin College	29-33
California Institute of Technology	32-35
Carleton College	29-33
Carnegie Mellon University	28-32
Davidson College	28-32
Duke University	29-34
Emory University	29-33
Georgetown University	29-33
Johns Hopkins University	28-33
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	31-34
Middlebury College	29-32
Northwestern University	29-33
Rice University	29-34
Stanford University	29-33
Swarthmore College	27-33
University of California – Berkeley	23-30
University of California – Los Angeles	24-30
University of Chicago	28-33
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill	25-30
University of Notre Dame	31-34
Vanderbilt University	29-33
Washington University in St. Louis	30-33
Wellesley College	28-32
Williams College	29-33

Average ACT Scores in the News

As the ACT becomes more popular, people are starting to take notice.

In the college rankings for 2010, US News and World Report began to factor both the average ACT scores and SAT scores for admitted students into their selectivity rankings, when before they only considered the most popular test at each school.

The ACT is on the rise, so consider taking a practice test and seeing if it’s the right fit for you. If you shoot for these average ACT score ranges, you’ll be on your way to a solid application for any top college.

UPDATE:
Other posts you may be interested in:

Average ACT Scores at Ivy League Schools

Average SAT Scores for 25 Top Schools

Average SAT Scores at Ivy League Schools

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