Sending test scores is a vital part of completing college applications and sometimes it can be tricky to decide which test to take – ACT® or SAT® – and which test scores to send. (Our video ACT® vs. The New SAT®can help you with the first part!)
In this blog post, we’ve compiled a list of the top 50 colleges in America that super-score the ACT®, followed by a list of colleges that superscore the SAT®. The College Board also has comprehensive information on institutional score-use practices for the SAT® — in other words, it has a massive document that tells you every school in the US’s score choice and superscoring policy — here. But to be honest, that list is a little confusing, because some schools, like Stanford, require all scores but still tell students they “superscore” when calculating your competitive worth in the application process. Knowing that information may encourage you to retake an exam when you otherwise wouldn’t. Likewise, the College Board list doesn’t list who superscores the ACT®– so we’ve created a list with all that information in one place.
Generally, schools aren’t going to superscore between the two versions of the SAT® (i.e. NEW SAT® and OLD SAT®), and more schools superscore the SAT® than the ACT®.
Colleges that superscore take the highest scores in each testing section and create a new composite score out of your best scores. Rather than just looking at one test from one date, superscoring will take into account each test you’ve taken to find the top scores in each category: Reading, Math, and Writing. Do note that the Writing section is typically taken as a whole– meaning you can’t take your essay from one test date and combine it with your multiple choice from another to create a new writing score. However, some colleges will consider all scores that you send– so if you aced the essay but had a lower writing section score one time, you still may want to send that score along. Ultimately some of what matters to colleges and the admissions process as a whole is never fully transparent, but individual university admissions websites are often the best resource if you have a question about a specific school.
Make sure to double check a college’s website for their specific requirements. Application requirements are always subject to change.
| Boston College | Johns Hopkins | University of North Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| Boston University | MIT | University of South Carolina |
| Brown | New York University | USC |
| Carnegie Mellon | Notre Dame | University of Virginia |
| Columbia | Princeton | Vanderbilt |
| Cornell | Stanford | Villanova |
| Duke | University of California | Virginia Tech |
| Georgetown | University of Chicago | Yale |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | University of Connecticut | |
| Harvard | University of Miami |
