What’s a Good SAT Score for Scholarships?

Scholarships By SAT or ACT Test Scores

The SAT is scored on a 1600-point scale, split between Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (up to 800 points) and Math (up to 800 points). But what exactly makes a good SAT score for a merit-based scholarship?

The short answer is that you should aim for an SAT score between 1200 and 1600 if you want to secure some scholarships based on merit–and the higher within that range you score, the more money you’re looking at.

More specifically, you could breakdown the likelihood of an SAT-based scholarship into these ranges:

• 1000-1200: For scholarships that require a minimum SAT score
• 1200-1300: Good scholarship opportunities
• 1300-1450: Excellent scholarship potential
• 1500-1600: Top-tier scholarship possibilities

Types of Scholarships

Not all scholarships are created equal. Let’s dive into the different ways you can turn those test scores into money for college:

Guaranteed Scholarships

These are automatically awarded to students who hit specific score thresholds on the SAT or ACT (or other criteria like GPA or class rank).

The best part? No extra application required.

Guaranteed scholarships typically offer certain scholarship amounts for different score ranges. For example, a score of 1200-1290 might get you $3000 a year, while a score of 1500-1600 could get you three times as much at $9000 a year.

There used to be a lot more of these types of scholarships based on test scores, but with so many colleges and universities adopting test-optional policies, many of those schools have switched to GPA as the main criteria (typically between 3.0 and 4.0) or class rank (top 25% and above).

However, there are still several colleges that offer guaranteed scholarships for SAT/ACT scores including Florida A&M, Texas Tech, University of Mississippi, and University of Tennessee. Check out the table below for more colleges and universities with scholarships based on SAT scores.

National Merit Scholarships

The National Merit Scholarship is probably the most famous private scholarship based on test scores, albeit PSAT scores. While the process is a bit more complicated, in general you need to score in the top 1% in your state on the PSAT to qualify. In addition, many colleges offer additional scholarships to National Merit semi-finalists and finalists.

Merit-Based Scholarships

These are a bit more competitive and a bit more work. You’ll be up against other high-achieving students for a limited number of awards. These scholarships often strongly consider GPA, activities, personal attributes, recommendations, and/or essays alongside your SAT/ACT scores. However, there are many, many of these scholarships offered by schools themselves and by other organizations. In fact, there are currently over 1.5 MILLION scholarships available for higher education in the United States!

Nearly all colleges and universities have scholarships, so if you have a list of schools you’re interested in, a simple Google search for your top college choices along with the search term “merit scholarships” will get you to the right place.

You can also check out the resources at the bottom of this article for where to search for scholarships. And then make sure to check out our article on good SAT scores to learn how to get your SAT score in range for some serious financial aid.

Available Scholarships by School (Updated 2024-2025)

Already got an SAT score in mind? Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of scholarships that use SAT scores as a key criteria, most of which are automatically granted to qualified students.

Private Scholarships

There are also scholarships out there that aren’t affiliated any specific academic institute (the Burger King James W. McLamore WHOPPER Scholarship for example), so once you’ve exhausted your college list, try casting a wider net. Here are just some of the scholarships with super simple applications:

1. DoSomething.org Easy Scholarships

On DoSomething.org you can enter to win college scholarships by participating in community service campaigns–some are even as simple as sending a tweet!

2. $2,000 No Essay Scholarship
Niche gives away a $2,000 scholarship every month. All you have to do is register for a free account and you are entered to win this scholarship.

3. $10,000 Unigo Scholarship
Answer Unigo’s prompt in 250 words or less. One of their recent topics was “Surprise! You just got elected president. What’s your first tweet?”

4. No Essay Smart Owl Scholarship
ScholarshipOwl is an online platform designed to match you with the award opportunities that fit your background, grades, lifestyle, and more–and you will be entered to win the “$7,000 No Essay Smart Owl Scholarship” just by making a free account on their website.

Searching for scholarships can be time-consuming, so consider asking your high school or college counselor to give you a leg up on the hunt.

Additional Resources for Your College Scholarship Search

• Niche.com
• College Board Scholarship Directory
• Scholarships.com
• Fastweb.com

Final Thoughts About a Good SAT Score for Scholarships

There are a lot of scholarships out there, and surprisingly enough, many of them have nothing to do with SAT scores. Like we mentioned at this beginning of this article, plenty of scholarships are based around other attributes such as your GPA, your background, even your summer job. You probably have a lot more than just your SAT scores going for you, so you shouldn’t sell yourself short by only looking into merit scholarships – they’re just a good place to start!

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