University of Minnesota-Twin Cities ACT Scores: a 26 to 31 Middle 50%

Enrolled students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities who submitted an ACT composite scored 26 at the 25th percentile and 31 at the 75th percentile, with a reported midpoint of 30. That makes the middle 50% five points wide, and the overall admission rate is 80%. Those two facts point in different directions, and most of this page is about why that is not a contradiction. All figures come from the US Department of Education College Scorecard, most recent reported cohort, for a campus in Minneapolis, MN with 31,855 undergraduates.

The 26 to 31 band, and what each number actually claims

Every score figure on this page describes one specific group: enrolled undergraduates who submitted an ACT composite. Applicants who were turned down are not in it. Students who were admitted and chose a different school are not in it. Students who enrolled without sending a score are not in it either. That is a narrower group than "people who apply to Minnesota," and the difference matters when you try to use these numbers on yourself.

A percentile describes a group. It is not a cutoff, a minimum, or a requirement, and no one at the university compares your score to 26 to decide anything. Read the bottom of the band the useful way: a quarter of enrolled students who reported a score arrived at 26 or lower, so scores at that level are genuinely present on this campus. If you want the general mechanics first, our ACT scores guide explains percentile bands, and the college score reference lets you set bands next to each other.

Why the reported midpoint of 30 does not sit in the middle of the band

Take 26 and 31, split the difference, and you get 28.5. The reported midpoint for this school is 30. That gap is the most interesting thing in this data set, so it is worth slowing down on.

Start with what 30 is not. It is not a median we can verify, and it is not the score of a typical student. It is the midpoint of the range as reported, which is why we call it the reported midpoint everywhere on this page. What we can say arithmetically is exactly this: the reported midpoint sits 4 points above the 25th percentile and only 1 point below the 75th.

Taken at face value, that lopsided position hints that reported scores are not spread evenly from 26 to 31, and that more of them sit in the upper stretch of 29 to 31 than in the lower stretch of 26 to 28. Treat that as a hint about the shape of the distribution, not a measurement of it.

The practical consequence is small but real. Do not plan around 28.5 on the theory that the middle of the band is the middle of the group. If you are choosing a single number to build a study plan around, the reported figure of 30 is the one the school actually published. Our free ACT score calculator turns raw correct-answer counts into a composite so you can see where your current work lands against it.

80% admitted, and why that number cannot tell you your odds

Eight in ten applicants were admitted institution-wide in the reported year. That is an institutional ratio, computed across an entire applicant pool at a university with 31,855 undergraduates. It is not a personal probability, and treating it as one is the single most common mistake made with this figure. Your file is not a random draw from that pool.

It is also not broken out by anything. This data set gives one rate for the whole institution, so it says nothing about how any particular part of the university admits, and we are not going to invent numbers that were never published.

Here is the useful way to hold the two figures together. The 80% rate describes how many applicants got an offer. The 26 to 31 band describes where score submitters who actually enrolled ended up. A relatively open admission rate and a band whose lower edge is 26 are not in conflict, because they are answers to different questions. One is about the size of the gate. The other is about who walked through it and what they reported.

So do not read 80% as permission to skip preparation, and do not read a 26 as a wall. Both numbers are context for your own planning, and neither one predicts an outcome for you.

Placing your practice composite against 26, 30, and 31

Once you have a real timed practice composite, the band becomes a positioning tool. Each row below is information about where a score sits relative to enrolled submitters. None of it is a verdict about admission.

Note how short the distance is at the top. From the reported midpoint of 30 to the 75th percentile of 31 is a single composite point, while the drop from 30 down to the 25th percentile is four. In a band this narrow at the top, one point changes your position more than it would at a school with a seven-point spread. Get a baseline you trust first with a full-length timed practice test rather than an untimed section.

What a 5-point band means for how you study

Five points is a tight band, and the composite is an average, which together tell you how to spend your time. On the Enhanced ACT the composite is the average of English, Math, and Reading. Science is optional and reported separately, so it does not enter the composite.

Because it is an average of three scores, raising a composite by 2 points means finding 6 scaled points in total across those three sections. That can come from one weak section climbing sharply or from all three moving a little. Both routes are legitimate, and the arithmetic is what should decide it, not a hunch.

• English: 50 questions in 35 minutes.
• Math: 45 questions in 50 minutes.
• Reading: 36 questions in 40 minutes.
• Science: optional, 40 questions in 40 minutes, reported on its own.

There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so leaving a bubble empty is the one choice with no upside. Full details of the current format are in our Enhanced ACT 2025 guide.

To work on the gaps a baseline exposes, all 1,026 original practice questions on Prep36 are free with an instant explanation on every answer. There are 6 full-length timed forms and 2 of them are free. The free study plan builder and score forecast will sequence the work, the improvement guide covers what to fix first, the study guide covers routine, and the Enhanced ACT Cram Kit is free if your test date is close.

The limits of this data, stated plainly

We would rather tell you what is missing than pad the page with things we cannot source. Everything above comes from four numbers: 26, 30, 31, and 80%, plus enrollment and location.

• No section-level targets. This data set contains composite figures only. Any page that hands you an English, Math, or Reading target for this school is not getting it from here.
• No testing policy. Whether a score is required, optional, or considered at all is not in this data. Check the university's own admissions pages for that, and check it for the specific cycle you are applying in.
• Nothing below the institution level. The 80% rate is one figure for the whole university. There are no per-program numbers in this data set.
• Enrolled students, not applicants. The band describes people who enrolled and submitted a score.
• Do not multiply. The 31,855 figure is total undergraduate enrollment across all years, not one entering class, so you cannot apply the percentiles to it to count students.
• One cohort. This is the most recent reported cohort, a single snapshot, and nothing here describes a trend.

If you are planning more than one test sitting, our superscore guide explains what superscoring is and why each school's own policy is the only place to confirm whether it applies. Prep36 is not affiliated with ACT, Inc., and our practice questions are original, not official ACT questions.

What these composites cost in raw questions

A composite is not a number you score directly. On the Enhanced ACT it is the average of English, Math and Reading, so reaching one means hitting that scaled score across three sections. Science is optional and reported separately, so it is left out here.

Below is what each scaled score actually costs in correct answers, and how many questions you can afford to miss to still land on it.

Read this correctly. These are not section targets for this school. The College Scorecard reports composite percentiles only, with no section-level data, so nobody can tell you what English or Math score this school expects. What the table shows is the raw cost of a 26 and a 31 in each section, whoever you are aiming at. Build your own section goals from your own practice results.

Turn your practice raw scores into a composite with the free ACT score calculator, then drill the sections costing you the most in the free question bank.

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