University of Mississippi ACT Scores: 21 to 29 Middle 50%

At the University of Mississippi in University, MS, the middle 50% of enrolled students who submitted an ACT composite scored between 21 and 29, and the reported midpoint of that range is 25. That is an 8-point spread, wide by the standards of these ranges, which tells you the enrolled class covers a lot of ground academically. The university's overall admission rate is 97%, so for most applicants the ACT composite is not the thing standing between them and a decision. Below is what each of these numbers measures, what it cannot measure, and how to use the range when you set your own target.

Every number on this page, and what it measures

These figures come from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, which draws its test data from IPEDS. They describe students who were already enrolled at the University of Mississippi and who submitted an ACT composite, for the most recent reported cohort.

Two things are missing here on purpose. This dataset carries no section-level English, Math, or Reading figures, so any page handing you a "target English score" for this university is inventing it. And the percentiles are built from enrolled students, which means they leave out everyone who applied and was not admitted, and everyone who was admitted and enrolled somewhere else. That is a real limitation, not a footnote.

A 97% admission rate changes what you should use these scores for

At 97%, the admission rate sits near the ceiling. Institution-wide, close to every applicant in the reported year received an offer. That figure is a property of the university, not a forecast about you, and it cannot tell you what any individual application will produce. What it does tell you is that this page is not a gatekeeping chart.

So the percentiles change jobs. Rather than reading 21 as a bar to clear, read the 21 to 29 span as a description of the academic company inside a large undergraduate population. That is useful for a different set of questions: whether you want to land near the top of the range or the middle, how many hours of prep are worth spending, and whether your practice scores are moving in the right direction.

What the 25th percentile is not: a minimum, a cutoff, a requirement, or a number you must reach. A quarter of enrolled score submitters were at 21 or below, which is the opposite of a floor. For the general mechanics behind these figures, see how ACT scores are scored and reported and how to read a college's published score range.

The 8-point spread is the most informative number here

From 21 to 29 is 8 composite points, and that makes for a wide middle 50%. Both ends of it are ordinary at this university. A 21 and a 29 sit inside the same middle half of enrolled score submitters, which is a genuinely unusual thing to be able to say. When a school's middle 50% spans three or four points, the message is that the enrolled class clusters tightly. An 8-point band says the reverse.

The practical consequence: there is no single correct score to aim at here, there is a wide corridor. Where you place yourself inside that corridor, or above it, is a decision about how you spend your own time rather than a reaction to a threshold someone set for you.

It also helps to know what 8 points costs in effort. Under the Enhanced ACT, your composite is the average of English, Math, and Reading. Going from 21 to 29 means averaging eight points higher across all three of those sections, which is a different project from patching one weak area. With undergraduate enrollment at 21,473, each quarter of the score range represents a large number of students, though the data does not report how many submitted a score at all.

Where a given composite lands against 21, 25, and 29

Score a timed practice section first, convert the raw counts with the free ACT score calculator, then find the row you are in.

Every row above describes a past cohort of enrolled students. None of it predicts an outcome for you, and no honest page can. Use it to locate yourself, set a target, and measure progress against something concrete.

Why 25 is a reported midpoint and not an average

Add 21 and 29, divide by two, and you get exactly 25. That is not a coincidence. The midpoint here is arithmetic: it is the center of the reported range, so it carries no information the two endpoints had not already given you.

A real median would be more useful. It would name the score of the middle student, and across an 8-point band that student could sit anywhere between 21 and 29, not necessarily at the halfway mark. A class could lean toward the low end or the high end and still report a midpoint of 25. Since the dataset does not distinguish those cases, we call 25 the reported midpoint and refuse to dress it up as an average.

The practical version: do not fix on 25 as "the typical score here" and stop thinking. Treat the full 21 to 29 range as the useful object, choose a target inside it or above it, and check yourself with full-length timed practice rather than section drills alone. Keep in mind too that the range covers only students who submitted a score, which makes it a slice of the enrolled population, not a count of all of it.

Setting a target inside or above the 21 to 29 range

Pick one number and work at it. Starting at 19 and want the upper half of this band? Then 26 is a goal you can measure week by week. Already at 27? The remaining question is whether the next two or three points are worth the hours, and that is a fair question to answer no to.

The 2025 Enhanced ACT format shapes how you plan:

• English: 50 questions in 35 minutes
• Math: 45 questions in 50 minutes
• Reading: 36 questions in 40 minutes
• Science is optional, 40 questions in 40 minutes, and it is reported separately
• The composite is the average of English, Math, and Reading, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so leave nothing blank

Everything you need to start costs nothing on Prep36. All 1,026 original practice questions are free, each with an instant explanation on the answer. Six full-length timed forms exist and two of them are free, which is enough for a real baseline and a real retest. There is also a free study plan builder, a free score forecast, and the free Enhanced ACT Cram Kit. For method, read how to study for the ACT and how to improve your ACT score, then open the app.

The limits of this data, stated plainly

Before you make any decision from the numbers above, know what they exclude.

• They describe enrolled students who submitted an ACT composite. Not applicants, and not students who were admitted and enrolled somewhere else.
• The 97% figure is institution-wide for the reported year. It is not the probability that your application succeeds.
• There is no English, Math, Reading, or Science breakdown in this dataset, which is why no section-level target for this university appears anywhere on this page.
• Nothing here describes how the university handles ACC scores in its review, what any individual program looks for, or what any award considers. Those answers come from the university in writing, for your application year.
• Cohort years move. Verify the current figures with the university before you rely on them.

If you plan to test more than once, it is worth understanding how superscoring works as a concept and checking ACT test dates so a retake fits before your application deadlines. Any school-specific score policy has to be confirmed with the university directly. Prep36 is not affiliated with ACT, Inc.

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 21 and a 29 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.

Frequently asked questions