The University of Texas at Austin ACT Scores

Among enrolled UT Austin students who submitted an ACT score, the 25th percentile composite is 27 and the 75th percentile is 33, with a reported midpoint of 30. That is a 6-point middle 50%, which is wide for a school with a 27% overall admission rate. UT Austin enrolls 42,855 undergraduates in Austin, Texas. Below we break down what each of those numbers does and does not tell you, and how to use them when you set your own target.

The 27 to 33 band, read literally

Percentile numbers get misread constantly, so here is the plain reading of each one. All of these describe enrolled UT Austin students who submitted an ACT score. They do not describe applicants, and they do not describe students who were admitted and chose a different school.

Two things follow from this. First, 27 is not a floor. A quarter of enrolled score-submitters came in at or under it, so the number describes where the bottom of the middle sits, not where a door closes. Second, 33 is not a ceiling either. About a quarter landed above it. A percentile is a description of a group, never a cutoff, a minimum, or a requirement.

Why a 6-point spread matters more here than the 27% rate

A 6-point middle 50% is genuinely wide. It means the enrolled class is not clustered around one number. There is real distance between the student who scored 27 and the student who scored 33, and both are in the same half of the same class.

Compare that to the admission rate: 27% institution-wide, across 42,855 undergraduates. That rate is a single ratio for the entire institution in one reporting cycle. It is not a probability that applies to you, and no score converts it into one. You cannot combine a 30 composite with a 27% rate and get a personal number. That arithmetic does not exist.

So the more useful figure for planning is the band, not the rate. The band tells you the range of scores that actually shows up in an enrolled class at a school this size. The rate tells you only that the institution admitted a minority of its applicants overall. If you want a score to aim at, the band is the input. If you want reassurance, the rate will not give it to you, and neither will we.

If you are still learning how composites are built, start with how ACT scores work, then come back to these percentiles.

Picking your own target inside 27 to 33

Here is a practical way to use a 6-point band. Pick a number inside it, not the whole thing. Three defensible choices, depending on where you are now:

Two notes on this table. It is arithmetic on the four numbers above, nothing more. And a target is a study goal, not a prediction of any outcome. Hitting 33 does not mean you get in. Landing at 27 does not mean you do not. We will not tell you either way, because the data here cannot support that claim.

To find where you actually stand right now, run a real practice section and put the raw counts into the free ACT score calculator. Then build a plan with the free study plan builder.

What the Enhanced ACT composite is made of

A 27 or a 33 on the Enhanced ACT, the 2025 format, is built from three scored sections averaged together:

• 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 separately and not part of the composite

The composite is the average of English, Math, and Reading. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so leaving a bubble blank costs you a chance at a point and saves you nothing. Answer every question.

One limit worth stating plainly: the data on this page is composite only. There are no English, Math, or Reading percentiles for UT Austin in this data set, so anyone quoting you a section-level target for this school is not getting it from here. Plan your section work off your own practice results instead. The full format walkthrough is in the Enhanced ACT 2025 guide.

Moving inside the band with free practice

Closing a gap of a few composite points is section work, not general studying. What Prep36 gives you at no cost:

• 1,026 original practice questions, the entire bank, free, with an instant explanation on every answer. These are Prep36 questions written to the Enhanced ACT format, not official ACT questions.
• 6 full-length timed test forms, 2 of them free. Timed forms are how you find out whether your problem is content or pacing, which matters when English gives you 35 minutes for 50 questions.
• Free score forecast so you can see where your current work is trending.
• Free study plan builder to turn a target like 30 into a weekly schedule.
• Free Enhanced ACT Cram Kit at /cram-kit if your test date is close.

For method rather than materials, read how to study for the ACT and how to improve your ACT score. If you are planning more than one sitting, how superscoring works and the test date calendar are the two pages to read before you register.

Reading this page honestly

What this page is built on: ACT composite 25th percentile, reported midpoint, 75th percentile, overall admission rate, undergraduate enrollment, city, and state, from the US Department of Education College Scorecard, IPEDS source, most recent reported cohort.

What is not on this page, on purpose: we do not state whether UT Austin requires the ACT, we do not list deadlines, majors, scholarship thresholds, or honors cutoffs, and we do not compare this year's band to any earlier year. None of that is in the data set behind this page, so putting it here would mean inventing it.

What no score data can do: it cannot tell you that you will get in, and it cannot tell you that you will not. A 27% institution-wide admission rate is a ratio about an institution. Percentiles are a description of an enrolled group. Neither becomes a personal forecast, no matter how they are arranged.

You can compare this band against other schools on the college ACT scores index, or start practicing in the Prep36 app. 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 27 and a 33 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