ACT Score Comparison for 20 Top Liberal Arts Colleges

For Students & Parents

Updated February 02, 2017

Below is a table comparing ACT scores for the middle 50% of students enrolled in each school. These 19 schools are some of the top selective liberal arts colleges in the country, and in general, applicants will need strong scores to be admitted. If your ACT scores fall within or above the ranges listed below, you're on track for admission to these schools.

Top College ACT Score Comparison (mid 50%) (Learn what these numbers mean)
	ACT Scores						GPA-SAT-ACT Admissions Scattergram
	Composite		English		Math
	25%	75%	25%	75%	25%	75%
Bowdoin	-	-	-	-	-	-	see graph
Bryn Mawr	28	32	28	34	26	31	see graph
Claremont McKenna	29	33	30	34	29	34	see graph
Colby	29	32	29	34	27	33	see graph
Colgate	30	33	-	-	-	-	see graph
College of the Holy Cross	Test-Optional Admissions						see graph
Davidson	29	32	-	-	-	-	see graph
Denison	-	-	-	-	-	-	see graph
Dickinson	-	-	-	-	-	-	see graph
Gettysburg	-	-	-	-	-	-	see graph
Hamilton	-	-	-	-	-	-	see graph
Kenyon	28	32	30	34	26	31	see graph
Lafayette	27	31	27	33	27	31	see graph
Macalester	29	32	29	34	27	32	see graph
Oberlin	29	32	31	34	27	31	see graph
Reed	29	33	30	35	26	32	see graph
Vassar	30	33	31	34	27	33	see graph
Washington and Lee	30	33	31	34	28	32	see graph
Whitman	27	32	-	-	-	-	see graph
View the SAT version of this table

Keep in mind that ACT scores are just one part of the application. Even if you have perfect 36s for each ACT subject you could still get rejected if other parts of your application are weak--good ACT scores do not guarantee admission. Since these schools all have holistic admissions, admissions officers will also take into account letters of recommendation, writing skills, academic backgrounds/variety, extracurricular activities, and work/volunteer experience.

If you click on the "see graph" links to the right of each school, you'll see a visual that shows how other students fared; these graphs illustrate the GPAs and ACT/SAT scores of applicants who were admitted, rejected, and waitlisted. You'll see that some students with high test scores were not admitted, while some with low scores were admitted.

These colleges are selective, with acceptance rates in the teens and twenties. So, even though 25% of enrolled students had ACT scores below these ranges, successful applicants generally have high scores, good grades, and a strong application.

To see a full profile of each college, click on the names in the table above. You can also check out these other ACT links (or SAT links):

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