Rich getting richer

ACT scores have risen substantially at a number of Big Ten schools as a growing pool of talented students has made it more difficult to get into the region’s best public universities. Toggle between the schools to see how the average composite scores of incoming freshmen have changed since 2001.

Big 10 average Michigan Michigan State Ohio State Indiana Purdue Illinois Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa Nebraska NorthwesternPenn State

Note: Newest Big Ten members Rutgers and Maryland do not report ACT scores. The SAT is more prevalent on the East Coast.

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Big Ten ACT scores soar

by Bridge Staff, Bridge Michigan
August 26, 2014

<h1>Big Ten ACT scores soar</h1> <p class="byline">by Bridge Staff, Bridge Michigan <br />August 26, 2014</p> <br /> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Rich getting richer</h2> <p>ACT scores have risen substantially at a number of Big Ten schools as a growing pool of talented students has made it more difficult to get into the region’s best public universities. Toggle between the schools to see how the average composite scores of incoming freshmen have changed since 2001.</p> <p> </p> <div id="container"></div> <p> Big 10 average Michigan Michigan State Ohio State Indiana Purdue Illinois Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa Nebraska NorthwesternPenn State </p> <p>$(function () {<br /> var chart = new Highcharts.Chart({<br /> title: {<br /> text: 'ACT Composite scores / Big 10 Average',<br /> x: 0 //center<br /> },<br /> subtitle: {<br /> text: 'Source: National Center for Education Statistics',<br /> x: 0<br /> },<br /> chart: {<br /> renderTo: 'container'<br /> },<br /> xAxis: {<br /> categories: ['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004', '2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']<br /> },<br /> yAxis: {<br /> title: {<br /> text: 'ACT composite scores'<br /> },<br /> allowDecimals: false,<br /> plotLines: [{<br /> value: 0,<br /> minRange: 36,<br /> width: 1,<br /> color: '#808080'<br /> }]<br /> },<br /> tooltip: {<br /> valueSuffix: ''<br /> },<br /> plotOptions: {<br /> spline: {<br /> marker: {<br /> radius: 4,<br /> lineColor: '#666666',<br /> lineWidth: 1<br /> }<br /> },<br /> series: {<br /> connectNulls: true<br /> }<br /> },<br /> series: [{<br /> name: "25th Percentile",<br /> data: [22.6, 23.1, 23.1, 23.3, 23.5, 23.6, 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.5, 24.7, 24.6, 25.1]<br /> }, {<br /> name: "75th Percentile",<br /> data: [27.9, 28, 28.2, 28.4, 28.4, 28.5, 28.7, 29.1, 29.3, 29.4, 29.5, 29.6, 29.7]<br /> }]<br /> });<br /> $(".test").change(function () {<br /> var value = this.getAttribute("value");<br /> if (value == 'a') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Big 10 average'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([22.6, 23.1, 23.5, 23.8, 24, 24.1, 24.5, 24.7, 24.8, 25.1, 25.3, 25.2, 25]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([27.9, 28, 28.6, 28.8, 28.8, 28.9, 29.1, 29.5, 29.6, 29.7, 29.8, 30, 29.8]);<br /> } else if (value == 'b') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Michigan'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([25, 26, 26, 26, 26, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 28, 28, 28]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([30, 30, 30, 31, 31, 31, 31, 31, 31, 31, 32, 32, 32]);<br /> } else if (value == 'c') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Michigan State'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 28, 28, 28, 28]);<br /> } else if (value == 'd') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Ohio State'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([23, 23, 23, 23, 24, 24, 25, 25, 25, 26, 26, 26, 27]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([28, 27, 28, 28, 28, 29, 29, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 31]);<br /> } else if (value == 'f') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Indiana'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([21, 22, 22, 22, 21, 22, 23, 23, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 28, 29, 29, 29, 29, 29, 30]);<br /> } else if (value == 'g') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Purdue'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([22, 23, 23, 22, 23, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23, 24, 24, 24]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 29, 29, 29, 30, 30, 30]);<br /> } else if (value == 'h') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Illinois'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([23, 25, 25, 25, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([28, 30, 30, 30, 30, 31, 31, 31, 31, 31, 31, 31, 31]);<br /> } else if (value == 'i') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Minnesota'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([22, 22, 22, 23, 23, 23, 24, 24, 24, 25, 25, 25, 26]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 29, 29, 29, 30, 30, 30, 30]);<br /> } else if (value == 'j') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Wisconsin'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([25, 25, 25, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, 26, ]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([29, 29, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, ]);<br /> } else if (value == 'k') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Iowa'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 22, 25]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 28]);<br /> } else if (value == 'l') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2001', '2002', '2003', '2004','2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012', '2013']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Nebraska'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([21, 21, 21, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([27, 27, 27, 28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 29, 28, 28, 29, 28]);<br /> } else if (value == 'm') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2003', '2004', '2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Northwestern'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([28, 29, 29, 29, 29, 30, 30, 31, 31, 31]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([33, 33, 33, 33, 33, 34, 33, 33, 33, 34]);<br /> } else if (value == 'e') {<br /> chart.xAxis[0].setCategories(['2005', '2006', '2007', '2008', '2009', '2010', '2011', '2012']);<br /> chart.setTitle( {text: 'ACT Composite scores / Penn State'});<br /> chart.series[0].setData([24, 23, 23, 24, 24, 25, 25, 25]),<br /> chart.series[1].setData([28, 28, 28, 28, 29, 29, 29, 29]);<br /> } else {<br /> alert("Error!");<br /> }<br /> });<br /> }); </p> <p>Note: Newest Big Ten members Rutgers and Maryland do not report ACT scores. The SAT is more prevalent on the East Coast.</p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/talent-education/big-ten-act-scores-soar/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com&quot;&gt;Bridge Michigan&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/bridgemi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/cropped-android-chrome-192x192-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=10911&amp;amp;ga4=G-1E2G9MSHX5&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://bridgemi.com/talent-education/big-ten-act-scores-soar/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bridgemi.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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