ACT Scores for Admission to Four-Year Oklahoma Colleges

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.

At many Oklahoma colleges and universities, ACT or SAT scores will be a required part of your application. The ACT score table below can help you see if your scores are on target for admission.

Oklahoma is often under-rated for higher education. The state has several excellent public and private colleges and universities. Schools vary widely in size, mission, personality, and selectivity. You'll need strong grades and test scores for a place like the University of Tulsa or University of Oklahoma, but other colleges have a low admissions bar or open admissions.

What These ACT Scores Mean

The table above can help you figure out if your ACT scores are on target for admission to your top choice Oklahoma colleges. The table shows ACT scores for the middle 50% of matriculated students. If your scores fall within or above these ranges, you're in a good position for admission. If your scores are a little below the bottom number, don't give up—25% of enrolled students have scores below those listed.

As an example, for the University of Central Oklahoma, 50% of students had an ACT composite score between 19 and 24. This tells us that 25% of enrolled students had scores of 24 or higher, and on the lower end, 25% had scores of 19 or lower.

Note that the ACT is far more popular than the SAT in Oklahoma, but all the schools will accept either exam. If you're wondering if your ACT scores or SAT scores will be stronger for admission to an Oklahoma college, be sure to check out the SAT version of this table.

Holistic Admissions

If you are hoping to get into one of Oklahoma's more selective schools but you have low SAT scores, be sure to keep the test in perspective. A strong academic record with challenging college preparatory classes will almost always carry more weight than standardized test scores. Also, some of the schools will look at non-numerical information and want to see a winning essay, meaningful extracurricular activities and good letters of recommendation.

Oklahoma Schools with Open Admissions

Several of the colleges and universities in the table above do not report ACT data because they have open admissions. These schools include Cameron University, Langston University, Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, and South Nazarene University.

Realize that "open" admissions does not, in fact, mean that admission is open to everyone who applies or that admission is guaranteed. Many schools with open admission policies have minimum standards for GPA and standardized test scores, and students can also be rejected if spaces in a program aren't available or if other parts of the application raise concerns.

Oklahoma and Test-Optional Admissions

Here's some more good news if you're not happy with your ACT scores: quite a few Oklahoma colleges and universities have test-optional admissions. This means that many if not all applicants will not need to submit standardized test scores as part of their application.

Several Oklahoma schools have truly test-optional admissions. ACT and SAT scores are not a required part of the application at Cameron University, Mid-American Christian University, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, and Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City.

At other schools, ACT or SAT scores are required only if your GPA or class rank are below a specific threshold. You'll find this policy at East Central University, Langston University, Northeastern State University, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma State University-Stillwater, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Southwestern Christian University, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma, and University of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma.

Keep in mind that these schools generally will consider ACT scores if you choose to submit them, so if you have strong scores, it will be to your advantage to include them with your application. Also realize that many schools with test-optional admissions will still require ACT or SAT scores for other purposes such as advising, class placement, scholarships, and NCAA reporting.

You can learn more about test-optional admissions on the Fairtest website.

Data Source: The National Center for Education Statistics