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Home/Average IQ/By university
NO UNIVERSITY PUBLISHES AN IQ

Average IQ by university: a model from the scores they do publish.

US colleges report the 25th and 75th percentile SAT and ACT scores of enrolled first-years (Common Data Set, section C9). Enter a school's range, or pick a tier, for a SAT-based model, not a measured IQ of every student.

ESTIMATED MEAN IQ OF ENROLLED STUDENTS126middle 50% ≈ 122–130Regression-adjusted: because SAT and IQ correlate about .82 (Frey & Detterman 2004), students selected on SAT are, on average, a little less extreme in IQ. The naive match would say 131.

SAT ranks against all 2023 test-takers (mean about 1028, SD about 200), converted to IQ. Rough guide only: takers aren't the general population, and score ranges aren't IQ tests. See the SAT converter for the details.

36 US UNIVERSITIES

Published SAT middle 50%, and the IQ estimate it implies

Click a row to load it into the estimator above. Estimates use the regression-adjusted method; schools that are test-blind (e.g. the University of California) publish no range and are left out.

UNIVERSITYSAT 25TH–75TH (800–1600)RANGEEST. IQ

✓ = checked against published 2023–25 Common Data Set figures as reported by admissions sites (Oct 2026); sources differ by ±10–40 points between years. Unticked rows are approximate and should be verified against each school's current CDS (section C9) before publishing. Ranges under test-optional policies describe submitters only. Estimated IQ = mean of the range converted with r = .82; individual students span far wider.

WHO REPORTS A SCORE

Test-optional admissions push published ranges up

When submitting scores is optional, students with strong scores send them and others don't. The college's reported range then describes only submitters. The lower the share submitting, the more the range flatters the whole class.

SUBMITTERS' MEAN SAT1510
WHOLE CLASS, IF ALL TESTED1450
That's roughly 4 IQ points of inflation in the estimate above. Colleges that went test-optional after 2020 often saw reported ranges rise for exactly this reason.Model: the class's true scores are normal around the middle of the range entered above; students submit if they're in the top 60%. Real submission is less clean, so treat this as an upper bound.
PRESTIGE vs PEOPLE

Student bodies overlap far more than rankings suggest

Estimated IQ distributions for three generic tiers, each with SD of about 10 inside the school (selection narrows the spread). Click a tier to see how many of its students would fit in another.

80100120140160
MOST SELECTIVE (MEAN 136)
48%overlap with selective (mean 122). About 8% of most selective students score below the selective average.
16%overlap with broad access (mean 108). About 0% of most selective students score below the broad access average.
DOES COLLEGE MAKE YOU SMARTER?

Mostly selection, plus a modest schooling effect

SELECTIONAdmissions pick high scorers

Selective schools admit students who already scored high on tests closely related to IQ. Most of the gap between universities exists before the first lecture.

SCHOOLINGEducation adds a little

Natural-experiment studies (Ritchie & Tucker-Drob 2018) suggest each extra year of education raises measured intelligence by about 1 to 5 points, mainly shown for school years rather than university.

SORTING AFTERGraduates sort into jobs

Higher average scores among graduates then show up in occupations and incomes, which can make the degree look more causal than it is.

OTHER SYSTEMS

Why the same trick rarely works elsewhere

UKA-level grades, interview testsAdmissions use subject exams graded A*–E; national grade distributions shift over time, and there's no single scale shared across courses.
France, Spain, ItalyNational school-leaving examsScores on the baccalauréat or equivalents measure achievement in different subject mixes; some elite schools add their own competitive exams.
China, KoreaSingle national exams (gaokao, CSAT)Rank-based and highly comparable within a year and province, but not normed against the general population or IQ tests.
Germany, NordicsGrade averages, open accessMany programmes admit on school grade averages or have open entry, so selectivity varies by subject rather than by institution.
REFERENCES
  1. Common Data Set Initiative. Standard template, Section C9: SAT and ACT score percentiles of enrolled first-year students.
  2. College Board (2023). SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report: Total Group.
  3. Frey, M. C., & Detterman, D. K. (2004). Scholastic Assessment or g? Psychological Science, 15(6), 373–378.
  4. Ritchie, S. J., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2018). How much does education improve intelligence? A meta-analysis. Psychological Science, 29(8), 1358–1369.
  5. Belasco, A. S., Rosinger, K. O., & Hearn, J. C. (2015). The test-optional movement at America's selective liberal arts colleges. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37(2), 206–223.
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