Ranked

599 uS universities with the highest SAT scores

Average SAT of admitted students, highest first, with ACT midpoint and acceptance rate beside it.

#UniversityIn-stateCost of attendance BorrowPaying downSATAcceptance
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts $62,396 $82,730 7% 92% 1560 5%
2 University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois $70,662 $90,360 5% 87% 1554 4%
3 Rice University Houston, Texas $64,144 $79,788 6% 87% 1553 8%
4 Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey $62,688 $84,040 2% 86% 1553 5%
5 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania $68,686 $89,028 10% 84% 1553 5%
6 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland $65,230 $85,947 9% 82% 1553 6%
7 Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts $61,676 $85,540 4% 71% 1553 4%
8 Stanford University Stanford, California $65,910 $87,833 6% 90% 1553 4%
9 Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tennessee $67,498 $89,590 10% 84% 1549 6%
10 Duke University Durham, North Carolina $68,758 $87,072 14% 89% 1548 6%
11 Brown University Providence, Rhode Island $71,412 $87,648 10% 87% 1546 5%
12 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania $66,246 $83,654 34% 91% 1546 12%
13 Harvey Mudd College Claremont, California $68,613 $90,165 33% — 1545 13%
14 Cornell University Ithaca, New York $69,314 $88,140 18% 87% 1535 9%
15 Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Pennsylvania $65,494 $84,103 11% 86% 1534 7%
16 Pomona College Claremont, California $65,420 $85,300 9% 85% 1534 7%
17 Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire $68,268 $87,793 12% 87% 1534 5%
18 Yale University New Haven, Connecticut $67,250 $88,300 5% 86% 1534 4%
19 Williams College Williamstown, Massachusetts $68,560 $84,860 5% 81% 1533 8%
20 Amherst College Amherst, Massachusetts $70,480 $87,640 8% 80% 1533 9%
21 Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois $68,322 $91,250 17% 87% 1533 8%
22 Claremont McKenna College Claremont, California $67,980 $86,500 21% — 1527 10%
23 Wellesley College Wellesley, Massachusetts $67,176 $86,290 16% 90% 1520 14%
24 University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana $65,025 $83,271 25% 93% 1520 11%
25 Bowdoin College Brunswick, Maine $67,832 $85,100 8% 90% 1520 7%
26 Barnard College New York, New York $69,888 $89,538 26% 87% 1520 9%
27 New York University New York, New York $62,796 $84,374 19% 76% 1520 9%
28 Emory University Atlanta, Georgia $64,280 $83,622 11% 80% 1520 11%
29 Carleton College Northfield, Minnesota $68,892 $84,893 43% 92% 1517 20%
30 Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts $70,704 $88,300 19% 91% 1513 11%
31 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio $66,608 $85,851 47% 85% 1513 37%
32 Middlebury College Middlebury, Vermont $67,600 $85,880 23% 88% 1508 11%
33 Colgate University Hamilton, New York $70,306 $87,070 12% 86% 1508 14%
34 Hamilton College Clinton, New York $68,960 $84,230 29% 90% 1506 14%
35 Wesleyan University Middletown, Connecticut $70,342 $89,020 16% 88% 1501 16%
36 Colby College Waterville, Maine $69,600 $85,420 9% 87% 1501 7%
37 Smith College Northampton, Massachusetts $65,178 $86,030 14% 82% 1500 21%
38 Washington & Lee University Lexington, Virginia $68,045 $87,000 14% 88% 1498 14%
39 University of Richmond University of Richmond, Virginia $65,230 $80,961 32% 76% 1497 22%
40 Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts $66,162 $84,641 27% 79% 1497 5%

Questions

Highest sat in the US: which university leads?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology — an average SAT of 1560.
Where does this data come from?
The US Department of Education College Scorecard, which publishes what institutions charge, what students borrow and repay, and the test scores of admitted students. Nothing here is estimated — universities without a published figure are left out of the ranking.
Is the cheapest university the best value?
Not necessarily. Price is one half of value; the other is what graduates earn and whether they clear the debt. Each university page links to its earnings and repayment record.
All university data Cheapest tuition Most expensive Best loan repayment Fewest borrowers Highest acceptance

Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard. Universities without a published figure for the ranked measure are not listed.