ACT Score Comparison for Admission to Illinois Colleges

Northwestern University

Dr. Allen Grove is an Alfred University English professor and a college admissions expert with over 20 years of experience helping students transition to college.

Updated on February 24, 2020

You've taken the ACT, and gotten your scores back. You may be wondering if you have the ACT scores you need to get into one of the top Illinois colleges or universities. The comparison table below shows ACT 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 Illinois colleges.

Illinois Colleges ACT Score Comparison (mid 50%)
(Learn what these numbers mean)

Composite 25% Composite 75% English 25% English 75% Math 25% Math 75% GPA-SAT-ACT
Admission
Scattergram
DePaul University - - - - - - see graph
Illinois College - - - - - - see graph
IIT 26 31 25 32 27 32 see graph
Illinois Wesleyan 25 29 25 31 24 29 see graph
Lake Forest - - - - - - see graph
Loyola University 24 29 24 31 23 28 see graph
Northwestern University 32 34 32 34 32 34 see graph
University of Chicago 32 35 33 35 31 35 see graph
UIUC 26 32 25 33 25 32 see graph
Wheaton College 27 32 27 34 25 30 see graph

*Note: Augustana College and Knox College are not included in this table due to their policy of test-optional admissions.

If you're looking for Illinois colleges that aren't in the table above, click on the school in my extensive list of college admission profiles. Also be sure to keep in mind that ACT scores are just one piece of the college admissions equation. The admissions officers in Illinois will also want to see a strong academic record, a winning essay, meaningful extracurricular activities and good letters of recommendation. Many of these schools have holistic admissions.

To get a visual sense of this, just click on the "see graph" links along the right column. These graphs will show how other applicants fared, and what their GPA and SAT/ACT scores were. Because these schools take other factors into account, you may find that some students with good grades or test scores were rejected, while some with lower grades or scores were admitted.

It's important to remember that, with enough time, you can retake the ACT if you aren't satisfied with your scores. Check with your schools to see if you can submit your original scores, and then replace them with the higher ones once those scores come in.

To view a profile of each of the schools listed here, just click on their names in the table above. There you'll find information on admissions, financial aid, enrollment, popular majors, athletics, and more.

To learn more about what ACT scores you'll need for different colleges, check out these articles: