Do Colleges Look at ACT Scores? Policies, Good Scores, and How to Send Them 2026

Yes, most colleges look at ACT scores, but not all of them require scores. Many US colleges are test-optional, so they review your ACT composite only if you choose to submit it, while a growing group of selective schools requires scores again. A few, such as the University of California system, ignore ACT scores entirely when deciding admission.

Do Colleges Look at Act Scores: Key Facts (Updated October 2026)

The short answer to do colleges look at act scores depends on each school's policy, and those policies vary far more than they did a decade ago. Before 2020, most four-year colleges expected either an ACT or SAT result. After the pandemic, hundreds adopted test-optional rules and many kept them. Today you will find four broad groups: test-required, test-optional, test-blind, and test-flexible. Knowing which group your target colleges belong to tells you whether a score helps, hurts, or never enters the conversation.

At a test-optional college, admissions officers read your transcript, course rigor, essays, and recommendations first. An ACT score is an extra data point you may add. If your composite sits at or above the school's published middle 50 percent range, submitting it usually strengthens your file. If it sits well below that range, many applicants withhold it and let their grades speak. Either choice is legitimate, and colleges say they do not penalize students who apply without scores.

Test-required colleges treat the ACT or SAT as a core part of the application. In recent years several highly selective schools, including MIT, Dartmouth, and Harvard, reinstated testing requirements after studying their own data on student success. Some large public systems, including Florida's state universities, also lean on scores for admission or scholarship decisions. If you apply without a score where one is required, your application may be treated as incomplete, so always confirm the current rule on the admissions page.

Test-blind colleges refuse to consider scores at all. The University of California system is the best-known example: it does not use ACT or SAT results in admission decisions or scholarships, so sending a 34 would earn you nothing. If you are comparing UC campuses with other schools, you can skip the ACT for those applications and spend that time on essays and coursework. Test-flexible schools, meanwhile, let you substitute other evidence, such as AP or IB results.

Colleges also look at ACT scores after admission. Many use them for merit scholarships, honors college invitations, and placement into first-year math and English courses. A student admitted without a score may still need one to qualify for a scholarship grid that pays, for example, $2,000 more per year at a composite of 28 than at 26. Because of that, a strong ACT can matter even where admission itself is test-optional.

If you already tested, learn how to see your act score and read the full report before deciding where to send it. The report breaks out English, math, reading, and optional science results, plus a composite from 1 to 36. Knowing your percentile rank matters as much as the raw number, because colleges compare you with their own admitted class, and what are good act scores for one campus may look average at another.

The rest of this guide gives you the numbers and the process. You will see what counts as a good composite, how colleges treat practice scores like the PreACT, whether schools see every test date, and how to send results correctly. Use the table above for fees and scoring facts, then work through the checklist so you submit scores only when they help your case and only to the schools that actually want them.

ACT Exam at a Glance

Facts verified Oct 18, 2026 against ACT, Inc.. Dates that have passed are removed automatically.

What Is a Good ACT Score for College Admission?

What is a good score for ACT admission? A good ACT score is one that places you at or above the typical admitted student at the colleges on your list. Nationally, the average composite sits near 19 to 20, so a 21 is slightly above average, a 24 lands around the 75th percentile, and a 30 or higher puts you in roughly the top 6 percent of test takers. Percentiles shift slightly each year, so confirm current figures on ACT.org.

So what is a good score on the ACT test for you personally? Start with a simple three-tier model. A score of 20 to 23 is solid for open-admission and many regional public colleges. A score of 24 to 29 is competitive for most state flagships and many private colleges. A score of 30 to 36 is competitive for highly selective universities, where even a 33 can sit near the middle of the admitted range.

What is a good composite score for the ACT when your sections are uneven? The composite is the average of your scored sections, rounded to a whole number, so a 29 in English, 24 in math, and 28 in reading averages to 27. Colleges see all of it, and some place extra weight on math for engineering or English for journalism. Balance helps, but a lopsided result still counts as a 27 on the headline number.

What's a good ACT score also depends on money, not only admission. Merit scholarship grids at many universities step up every one to three points. For example, a school might award $4,000 per year at a 24, $8,000 at a 27, and full tuition at a 32. Raising your score by three points during junior year could therefore be worth tens of thousands of dollars over four years, which is why many students retake the test.

What Is the ACT Score for Auburn University?

Every university publishes a middle 50 percent range, and that range is the best answer to questions such as what is the act score for auburn university or what is the act score for ole miss. Look for the Common Data Set, section C9, on each school's website. It lists the 25th and 75th percentile ACT composite of last year's enrolled freshmen. Aim for the midpoint or higher to be competitive.

Once you know your target range, learn how to send act scores to colleges so the right test date reaches the right admissions office. Sending is not automatic. You request score reports through your ACT account, choose the test date, and pay any applicable fee. Delivery usually takes a few days, so start well before the deadline and confirm receipt in each college's applicant portal.

Finally, remember that a good score is a range, not a cliff. A 26 will not be rejected where the median is 27, and a 28 will not guarantee admission where acceptance rates are under 10 percent. Colleges read the score alongside GPA, course rigor, activities, and context. Treat the percentile bands as guidance for building a balanced list of reach, target, and likely schools rather than as a pass or fail line.

Do Colleges Look at Pre ACT Scores?

No, colleges generally do not look at PreACT scores. The PreACT is a practice and readiness assessment, usually taken in 10th grade, and its results go to you and your school rather than to admissions offices. Because it is not a formal college entrance score, it never appears in an application review. Its real value is diagnostic: it predicts how you might score on the ACT and shows which sections need work.

Use the PreACT report as a planning tool. Compare each subject score with the benchmark for the grade you tested, then identify your two weakest areas. If your English result trails your math by five points, build your study plan around grammar rules and rhetorical skills rather than splitting time evenly. A student who tests at a projected 22 as a sophomore and studies consistently often has realistic room to climb by spring of junior year.

Practice tests taken at home work the same way. Colleges never see them, so you can take them freely, review mistakes, and track growth with no application consequences. The only score that reaches admissions is an official ACT result from a national test date. Treat every unofficial attempt as free feedback, and save official attempts for when your practice scores are stable within about one or two points of each other.

Does Purdue Accept Self-Reported ACT Scores?

Many colleges, including some large public universities, allow self-reported scores on the application, but policies are school-specific, so check Purdue's current admissions page before relying on it. Self-reporting means you type your section and composite scores into the application, and the college verifies them later against an official report. It saves money and speeds up the process, but it only works where the school explicitly permits it.

If a college accepts self-reported scores, accuracy matters. Enter exactly what appears on your ACT report, including the test date, because a mismatch can trigger a review or even a rescinded offer. Most schools require an official score report from ACT once you enroll or receive an offer. Keep your ACT login handy, and order the official report early so final verification does not delay housing, scholarships, or class registration.

Before spending money on reports, find out whether the school needs a score at all. Ask the practical question, is the act required, for each school on your list, and read the policy for your specific entry year and major. Some colleges are test-optional for general admission but require scores for honors colleges, nursing, engineering, or merit scholarships. Keep a spreadsheet listing each school, its policy, its deadline, and whether it accepts self-reported results.

Document every decision. Write down the date you checked each policy, because requirements change from one admission cycle to the next. A rule you read last spring may be different now, and admissions pages usually show a single current policy with no history. Screenshots of the policy page, saved with the date, can save you a stressful email chain if a counselor, parent, or admissions officer later disagrees about what applied to you.

Do Colleges See All Your ACT Scores?

Colleges see only the scores you send, in most cases. ACT reports are sent by test date, so if you tested three times, you decide which dates go to each college. This is often called Score Choice, and it means a weak first attempt can stay private. Some colleges ask you to report every attempt on the application, so read the instructions carefully and answer honestly, because omissions can be treated as misrepresentation.

Do colleges look at individual ACT scores, or only the composite? They see the section scores and the composite for each date you send. Some schools superscore, meaning they combine your best English, math, and reading results across dates to build a higher composite. Others take your single best test date. A student with a 26 and a 27 could be reviewed as a 28 at a superscoring school, so find each method before choosing dates.

Superscoring changes retake strategy. If a school superscores, a retake can only help, because your best section on any date counts. If a school uses only your highest single sitting, you need one strong overall performance. Check how each school on your list handles this and decide whether to retake with a focus on one weaker section. A three-point jump in one section raises a composite by about one point, which matters when scholarships step up at fixed cutoffs.

Students often ask: is a 26 on the act good? For most schools, yes. A 26 sits around the 80th percentile nationally, well above the typical 19 to 20 average, and clears the middle range at many state universities. It falls short of the median at the most selective schools, where admitted students often score 33 to 35. Your answer depends on the list you build, not on the number alone.

Do Med Schools Look at ACT Scores?

No. Medical schools do not use ACT scores. They evaluate applicants with the MCAT, undergraduate GPA, coursework, clinical experience, and letters of recommendation. Your ACT matters only because it helps you get into and fund the undergraduate college that prepares you. Some combined BS/MD programs, however, admit high school seniors directly and may ask for ACT or SAT scores, so those pathways are the exception worth checking.

The same logic applies to graduate programs. Law schools use the LSAT, business schools use the GMAT or GRE, and most graduate programs ignore the ACT. Think of the ACT as a gateway to undergraduate admission and aid, not a lifelong credential. Once you enroll, your college GPA, internships, and research shape your next steps, and no later admissions committee will ask what you scored on a Saturday morning in high school.

To keep your options open, treat ACT preparation as a project with a clear finish line. Decide on a target composite, schedule two attempts, and then move on. Read our step-by-step guide on ACT Scores for Colleges to see exactly how reports are ordered and delivered. Sending reports only to schools that need them saves both time and money, and it keeps your application process organized from start to finish.

How Do You Get the Best ACT Score Before Colleges Look?

Start with a baseline. Take a full, timed practice test in one sitting, score it honestly, and write down your section scores. Without a baseline you cannot tell whether study time is working. Most students benefit from a first diagnostic about four to six months before their target test date, which leaves room for two or three study cycles and one retake if needed.

Study by weakness, not by preference. Review every missed question and label the cause: content gap, careless mistake, or timing. Content gaps need targeted lessons, such as comma rules in English or quadratic equations in math. Careless mistakes need slower reading and answer checking. Timing problems need drills with a timer. Keeping this error log for four weeks typically reveals three or four repeat patterns that account for most of your lost points.

Build timing discipline. The ACT is a speed test as much as a knowledge test, so practice budgeting minutes per passage and per group of questions, then train to that pace with a timer. If a single question is eating your clock, mark it, make your best guess, and move on. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a bubble blank, and return to hard items only if time remains.

Choose test dates strategically. Register for a date that leaves time for a retake before your earliest college deadline, and remember that scholarship deadlines can come earlier than admission deadlines. Many students test first in the spring of junior year and again in late summer or fall of senior year. Check the registration deadline for each date, since late fees apply, and confirm the current cost on ACT.org before you pay.

Prepare for test day logistics. Pack your admission ticket, acceptable photo ID, approved calculator, and extra pencils the night before, and eat a real breakfast. Arrive early to avoid check-in stress. Sleep matters more than a last-minute cram session, and students who sleep seven or eight hours generally perform closer to their practice scores. If you have documented needs, apply for testing accommodations well in advance, because approval takes time.

After scores arrive, decide before you send. Compare your composite with each college's middle 50 percent range, check whether the school is test-optional, and note any scholarship cutoffs. Send scores where they raise your odds, and skip them where they would sit below the range and the school allows it. This decision step is where students most often leave an advantage on the table, so give it a quiet hour and your full attention.

Finally, keep perspective. The ACT is one input among many, and colleges care about growth, grades, and character too. Practice with free resources, schedule retakes thoughtfully, and keep your list balanced between reach, target, and likely schools. With a plan, steady practice, and clear policy research, you can answer the question for yourself with confidence: yes, colleges look at your ACT score when it helps you, and you control when they do.