“I'm the first in my family to attend college, something I was never sure I'd be able to do because of the finances—I received federal aid and many PLU scholarships and grants, making my tuition much less than that of a state university.”

— Nathaniel Rivera
Pacific Lutheran University

Admissions Test Statistics & Requirements

The scores below show the range of the middle 50% of accepted students in the 2009 incoming class (latest statistics available in early 2011). That means half of accepted students scored between these numbers and one-quarter scored lower and one-quarter scored higher. If your SAT or ACT scores fall within this range, you are more likely to be admitted than if they fall below the range.

Standardized tests are an important part of applying for college. They give colleges an idea of how you compare to the other students that are applying. That doesn't mean that if you have a bad score you won't get into the college you want. Colleges evaluate the whole person, not a test score. They know that some very smart and capable students have bad standardized test scores and some students with bad study habits have good standardized test scores. Still, a better score can only help your chances of acceptance, so study hard for these tests and take them more than once, if you can.

* May be earlier if applying for early admission