SAT Score Comparison for Admission to California Colleges

A Side-by-Side Comparison of SAT Admissions Data for 32 California Colleges

Pomona College
Pomona College. The Consortium / Flickr

Learn what SAT scores you're likely to need to get into one of the top California colleges and universities. The side-by-side comparison table below shows scores for the middle 50% of enrolled students. If your scores fall within or above these ranges, you're on target for admission to one of these top colleges in California.

California Colleges SAT Score Comparison (mid 50%)
(Learn what these numbers mean)

Reading 25% Reading 75% Math 25% Math 75%
Berkeley 620 750 650 790
California Lutheran 493 590 500 600
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 560 660 590 700
Caltech 740 800 770 800
Chapman University 550 650 560 650
Claremont McKenna College 650 740 670 750
Harvey Mudd College 680 780 740 800
Loyola Marymount University 550 660 570 670
Mills College 485 640 440 593
Occidental College 600 700 600 720
Pepperdine University 550 650 560 680
Point Loma Nazarene 510 620 520 620
Pomona College 670 770 670 770
Saint Mary's College 480 590 470 590
Santa Clara University 590 680 610 720
Scripps College 660 740 630 700
Soka University 490 630 580 740
Stanford University 680 780 700 800
Thomas Aquinas College 600 710 540 650
UC Davis 510 630 500 700
UC Irvine 490 620 570 710
UCLA 570 710 590 760
UCSD 560 680 610 770
UCSB 550 660 570 730
UC Santa Cruz 520 620 540 660
University of the Pacific 500 630 530 670
University of Redlands 490 590 490 600
University of San Diego 540 650 560 660
University of San Francisco 510 620 520 630
USC 630 730 650 770
Westmont College 520 650 520 630


View the ACT version of this table or see tables for Cal State and the University of California.

You can click on a school's name to get more admissions information including a graph of GPA, SAT score, and ACT score data for admitted, rejected, and waitlisted students.

Clearly,​ admissions standards to these colleges and universities vary widely. Stanford and Caltech are two of the most selective colleges in the United States, and UCLA and Berkeley are a couple of the most prestigious and selective public universities in the country. If you're a strong student with not-so-strong SAT scores, Pitzer College is one of the many test-optional institutions in the country.

Also, keep in mind that the SAT is just one part of your college application. The admissions officers at many of these California colleges will also want to see a strong academic record, a winning essay, meaningful extracurricular activities and good letters of recommendation.

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

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Grove, Allen. "SAT Score Comparison for Admission to California Colleges." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/sat-score-comparison-for-california-colleges-788643. Grove, Allen. (2023, April 5). SAT Score Comparison for Admission to California Colleges. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/sat-score-comparison-for-california-colleges-788643 Grove, Allen. "SAT Score Comparison for Admission to California Colleges." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/sat-score-comparison-for-california-colleges-788643 (accessed April 28, 2024).