Is 1250 a good SAT score?
A 1250 is above most test takers. It sits under the middle 50 percent at every one of the ten schools below.
Good is whatever gets you into the schools on your list. So the useful questions are where a 1250 stands among test takers and at the schools you want.
Where a 1250 stands among test takers
A 1250 is higher than 86 percent of all US 11th and 12th graders. Among students who actually took the SAT, it is higher than 80 percent.
Source: College Board, Understanding SAT Scores, SAT percentile ranks, research.collegeboard.org, read October 12 2026.
The first figure is the nationally representative percentile, a weighted sample of all US 11th and 12th graders. The second is the SAT user percentile, from students in the past three graduating classes who took the test.
Where a 1250 stands at ten schools
Each school reports the middle 50 percent of scores its entering class sent, by section. The band below adds the two sections' 25th marks together, then the two 75th marks. That lets it read against a total score.
| School | Middle 50 percent | A 1250 sits |
|---|---|---|
| Brown | 1510 to 1580 | Under by 260 |
| Columbia | 1510 to 1580 | Under by 260 |
| Cornell | 1500 to 1570 | Under by 250 |
| Dartmouth | 1500 to 1570 | Under by 250 |
| Harvard | 1510 to 1580 | Under by 260 |
| MIT | 1520 to 1580 | Under by 270 |
| Penn | 1510 to 1570 | Under by 260 |
| Princeton | 1510 to 1580 | Under by 260 |
| Stanford | 1510 to 1580 | Under by 260 |
| Yale | 1470 to 1570 | Under by 220 |
Source: federal IPEDS data for fall 2024, a provisional release, via College Navigator, nces.ed.gov, retrieved October 1 2026. These ranges count only students who sent scores.
The submit rule
- Where the school requires a score, you send it, so the work is to raise it before the Done Date.
- Where the school is test-optional, send a score inside or above its middle 50 percent. Hold one that sits under.
- Where the school is test-free, the score is not read, so it changes nothing there.
Pick the sitting you want to be your last, then count back. Find your Done Date
Find out exactly where the points are going.
Send a practice score and the missed questions. Within one business day you get a written Diagnostic: where the points are going and what to fix first. It is free.