United States Public Colleges Ranked by Highest ACT Score

Below is a list of the 443 public colleges in the United States with the highest ACT Score for incoming freshmen. University of Maryland College Park leads the list with an average ACT Score of 33. Alternatively, check out the SAT version of these rankings.

The ACT is a standardized test used by colleges to evaluate applicants. It is not a guarantee of success in college, but it is a strong indicator of academic potential.

List of United States Public Colleges Ranked by Highest ACT Score
College	Average ACT Score
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina	31
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	31
University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont	31
University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, Wisconsin	31
University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut	30
University of Delaware Newark, Delaware	30
Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida	30
Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, Indiana	30
New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey	30
Rutgers University New Brunswick New Brunswick, New Jersey	30
United States Military Academy West Point, New York	30
North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, North Carolina	30
Ohio State University Main Campus Columbus, Ohio	30
Clemson University Clemson, South Carolina	30
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas	30
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Virginia	30
University of Washington Seattle Campus Seattle, Washington	30
Purdue University Main Campus West Lafayette, Indiana	30

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This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: March 15, 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.