United States Public Colleges Ranked by Highest SAT Score

Below is a list of the 482 public colleges in the United States with the highest SAT Score for incoming freshmen. University of Virginia Main Campus leads the list with an average SAT Score of 1475. Alternatively, check out the ACT version of these rankings.

The SAT 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 SAT Score
College	Average SAT Score
University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon	1245
St. Mary's College of Maryland St. Mary's City, Maryland	1241
University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, Illinois	1240
Iowa State University Ames, Iowa	1240
Michigan Technological University Houghton, Michigan	1240
University of Missouri Columbia Columbia, Missouri	1240
The College of New Jersey Ewing, New Jersey	1240
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Rapid City, South Dakota	1240
University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, Alaska	1235
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, North Carolina	1235
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus Norman, Oklahoma	1235
University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa	1230
Oregon State University Cascades Campus Bend, Oregon	1230
University of South Florida Tampa, Florida	1225
Mississippi State University Mississippi State, Mississippi	1225
Penn State Lehigh Valley Center Valley, Pennsylvania	1225
College of Charleston Charleston, South Carolina	1225
University at Albany Albany, New York	1220

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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.