Understanding SSAT average scores by school type is the fastest way to figure out where your child realistically fits, before you spend the cycle visiting schools and writing essays. Top boarding schools cluster in the 85th-95th percentile, the most selective independent day schools sit in roughly the same band, and a much larger group of strong private schools admit students from the 60s through the 80s. This guide pulls publicly reported school averages and admissions data into one place so you can match your score to the right tier.
Before you compare your child's number to any specific school, you need to know which number admissions offices actually look at. Two numbers come back on every SSAT score report - the scaled score and the percentile - and they tell very different stories. The SSAT percentile by school is the figure schools quote in interviews, brochures, and admissions data, so that is the one to anchor on.
The Upper Level SSAT (8th grade and above) reports section scaled scores from 500 to 800, for a total possible 1500-2400. The Middle Level (5th-7th grade) runs 1320-2130, and the Elementary Level (3rd-4th grade) runs 900-1800. The published average per Upper Level section is approximately 650, but average scores by themselves are not what schools compare against - they always translate back to a percentile.
Percentiles answer the only question schools care about: "Where does this student rank against the rest of the applicant pool?" A 92nd percentile score means the student outperformed 92 percent of other test-takers in the same grade and gender. That is the unit of comparison admissions offices use.
Here is a detail that surprises many families: SSAT percentiles are calculated against a much smaller pool than national tests. The comparison is made only against other SSAT testers in the same grade and gender, over the past three years. That pool skews high - SSAT testers are already a self-selected group of academically focused students aiming for private schools.
The practical takeaway: a 70th percentile SSAT score is a stronger achievement than a 70th percentile score on a general national test. The bar is calibrated against high-achievers, not the general population. This is why mid-tier private schools comfortably admit students in the 65th-85th band that would look unimpressive on a different scale.
A reported average percentile is the middle of an admitted class. By definition, roughly half of admitted students scored below that number. A school with a published 90th percentile average admits plenty of students at 85th and below, and conversely admits some students well into the 95th-99th range.
School averages are a sorting tool, not a cutoff. Use them to understand where the center of the class sits, then build a list with reaches, targets, and likely schools - the same way thoughtful college lists work later on.
| School Tier | Typical Percentile Range | Example Schools | What It Takes to Stand Out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elite Boarding (Tier 1) | 90th-95th+ | Phillips Exeter, Phillips Andover, Groton, Milton, St. Paul's | Score 92+, plus standout grades and a hook |
| Selective Boarding (Tier 2) | 85th-90th | Deerfield, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss, Choate, Middlesex, Thacher | Score 88+, strong recs, clear academic narrative |
| Elite Day Schools | 85th-95th | Horace Mann, Dalton, Brearley, Trinity, Harker, Sidwell Friends | Score 90+, excellent interview, local network |
| Mid-Tier Boarding (Tier 3) | 75th-85th | Hill School, St. Andrew's DE, St. George's, Governor's Academy | Score 80+, well-rounded application |
| Accessible Boarding (Tier 4) | 65th-75th | Berkshire, Cranbrook, Holderness, McCallie, Northfield Mount Hermon | Score 75+, demonstrated growth and fit |
| Specialty / Regional | 50th-75th | Arts schools, military academies, smaller regional schools | Talent or specific narrative often outweighs score |
Convert an Upper Level SSAT total scaled score (out of 2400) to its approximate percentile band.
The average SSAT score boarding school families ask about almost always belongs to this tier. These are the schools whose names everyone recognizes - and whose admit rates often sit below 15 percent. Across the most selective boarding schools, the published average percentile clusters between the high 80s and mid 90s.
Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, NH, reports an average admitted-student SSAT around the 94th percentile. Phillips Academy Andover, its peer institution in Andover, MA, sits just behind at roughly the 93rd percentile. These two routinely top published rankings of average SSAT performance.
Slightly behind the Phillips schools, Groton School and Milton Academy both report average SSAT percentiles around 90, with St. Paul's School in Concord, NH, just behind at roughly 89. None of these schools publishes a hard minimum, but the 85th percentile is the widely understood public floor.
Boarding School Review's 2026 ranking identifies six boarding schools with average SSAT percentiles above 85: Deerfield Academy, Lawrenceville School, Middlesex School, Milton Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and The Thacher School. The Hotchkiss School and Choate Rosemary Hall typically report averages right around the 85th percentile mark as well.
Practically, this means a roster of roughly a dozen boarding schools effectively share the top SSAT tier. They differ in size, geography, and culture, but their applicant pools and admit profiles overlap considerably. Families building a list of SSAT scores top boarding schools should think of this whole group as one tier, not as ranked positions.
| School | Location | Average SSAT Percentile | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phillips Exeter Academy | Exeter, NH | ~94 | Coed boarding |
| Phillips Academy Andover | Andover, MA | ~93 | Coed boarding |
| Groton School | Groton, MA | ~90 | Coed boarding |
| Milton Academy | Milton, MA | ~90 | Coed boarding |
| St. Paul's School | Concord, NH | ~89 | Coed boarding |
| Deerfield Academy | Deerfield, MA | >85 | Coed boarding |
| Lawrenceville School | Lawrenceville, NJ | >85 | Coed boarding |
| Middlesex School | Concord, MA | >85 | Coed boarding |
| The Thacher School | Ojai, CA | >85 | Coed boarding |
| Hotchkiss School | Lakeville, CT | ~85 | Coed boarding |
| Choate Rosemary Hall | Wallingford, CT | ~85 | Coed boarding |
| The Hill School | Pottstown, PA | 75-85 | Coed boarding |
At the elite level, scores rarely make an application; they only fail to disqualify it. Once a candidate clears the 85th-percentile bar, the rest of the file - grades, recommendations, interview, character snapshot, hooks like legacy or recruited athletics - drives the decision. Pushing from a 90 to a 95 helps less than admissions counselors are willing to admit, while staying at 78 will keep all but the most exceptional non-academic profiles out of consideration.
Worked Example
Setup: A 7th grader scores in the 88th percentile and is choosing between applying to Phillips Exeter (avg ~94th) and Lawrenceville (avg >85th). How should the family read this gap?
Day schools rarely get the press that boarding schools do, but the most selective urban day schools are every bit as competitive on test scores. SSAT scores selective day schools expect look strikingly similar to those at top boarding schools - the band is just a little wider.
Manhattan's tightest cluster of independent day schools - Horace Mann, Dalton, Brearley, Trinity, Spence, and Collegiate - typically admits students in the 85th to 95th percentile range, mirroring elite boarding tiers. These schools all accept either the SSAT or the ISEE, so families should confirm which test their target school prefers before booking a sitting.
The top NYC day school applicant pool is brutally over-competitive. A 90th percentile score is competitive but not unusual; 95+ is common among successful admits. Beyond the score, NYC schools weight the parent interview, alumni network, and feeder-school relationship heavily.
Boston-area selective day schools - Buckingham Browne and Nichols, Roxbury Latin, Winsor - cluster in the 80th-95th percentile band, with Roxbury Latin's all-male admitted class often hitting the high end. The SSAT is generally preferred over the ISEE in the Boston region.
On the West Coast, Bay Area schools like The Harker School, Castilleja, and Menlo School typically target the 75th-90th percentile range. Mid-Atlantic schools like Sidwell Friends and Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, expect 80th-90th percentile applicants for most admits. Regional preferences aside, the pattern holds: the most prestigious day schools in any major metro share boarding-school-tier expectations.
The reason elite day schools track so closely with elite boarding schools is simple: they recruit from the same families. A child applying to Trinity in Manhattan is often also applying to Andover or Lawrenceville. Day schools know this, calibrate their expectations accordingly, and run admissions with the same selectivity dials.
| School | Region | Typical Admitted Range | Test Accepted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horace Mann | New York City | 85th-95th | ISEE or SSAT |
| Dalton School | New York City | 85th-95th | ISEE or SSAT |
| Brearley School | New York City (girls) | 85th-95th | ISEE or SSAT |
| Trinity School | New York City | 85th-95th | ISEE or SSAT |
| Spence School | New York City (girls) | 85th-95th | ISEE or SSAT |
| Collegiate School | New York City (boys) | 85th-95th | ISEE or SSAT |
| BB&N | Cambridge, MA | 80th-95th | SSAT preferred |
| Roxbury Latin | West Roxbury, MA (boys) | 85th-95th | SSAT preferred |
| The Harker School | San Jose, CA | 85th-95th | ISEE or SSAT |
| Castilleja School | Palo Alto, CA (girls) | 75th-90th | ISEE or SSAT |
| Sidwell Friends | Washington, DC | 80th-90th | SSAT or ISEE |
| Georgetown Day School | Washington, DC | 80th-90th | SSAT or ISEE |
Most boarding-school applicants do not end up at Phillips Exeter, and that is fine - the average SSAT score private school families realistically need lives in this tier. The 65th-85th percentile band is where the largest share of strong placements happens, and it covers dozens of academically serious schools across the country.
Boarding School Review's 2026 ranking identifies seven schools in the 75th-85th percentile band: The Governor's Academy, The Hill School, Ross School, St. Andrew's School (DE), St. George's School, Verde Valley School, and Wayland Academy. Each of these is academically rigorous and typically requires a 75-80+ percentile applicant to be a clear admit.
Schools in this band often have stronger merit-aid offerings than the top tier, since they actively compete to enroll high-achieving students who could land at higher-ranked schools. A student in the 80th-85th percentile with strong recommendations and a clear narrative will see meaningful financial aid offers from this group.
The 65th-75th percentile tier includes Berkshire School, Cranbrook Schools, Hawai'i Preparatory Academy, Holderness School, Hoosac School, McCallie School, and Northfield Mount Hermon. These schools provide outstanding academic, athletic, and arts programs without the cutthroat selectivity of the top tier.
For many families, this band is the sweet spot: serious academics, strong college outcomes, and admissions decisions that genuinely consider the whole applicant rather than filtering hard on score.
The "mid-tier" label can mislead. A school with a 70th percentile SSAT average is enrolling students who outperformed 70 percent of an already-selective national pool of private-school applicants. These are not academically weak schools - they are schools where the bar is high but the focus extends beyond standardized testing. College placement lists from the strongest mid-tier boarding schools are competitive with anything in the top tier.
Beyond the conventional boarding-day spectrum lies a large set of specialty programs where SSAT plays a much smaller role. For families whose child has a particular talent or need, these schools can be excellent fits, and a good SSAT score for private school admission at this tier may sit in a band that would look modest at Andover.
Pre-professional arts schools - Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, Walnut Hill in Massachusetts, Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan - weight portfolios, auditions, and creative work above test scores. SSAT averages at these schools typically run in the 60th-80th percentile band, but the audition or portfolio is the dominant admissions factor.
Military-style academies and faith-based boarding schools tend to average around the 50th-70th percentile. Smaller regional Western boarding schools - many in Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and California outside the Thacher orbit - often admit applicants from the 45th-65th band, with strong emphasis on fit, family conversation, and outdoor or community values.
Schools that primarily serve students with learning differences (Landmark School, Riverview School, Eagle Hill) often skip the SSAT entirely or treat it as supplementary. Some progressive day schools and project-based learning communities have similarly moved away from standardized scores. For these schools, the SSAT is at most a data point, not a gatekeeper.
Geography shifts both which test schools accept and how high the bar sits for admission. Before you start prepping, confirm the regional landscape.
The SSAT/ISEE choice is regional. Schools in Texas almost never accept the SSAT - the ISEE is standard there. Conversely, schools in Georgia almost never accept the ISEE, with the SSAT firmly dominant. The Northeast - especially Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania - leans SSAT, while NYC schools commonly accept either. California is split: some schools require one specifically; many accept both.
Always check each target school's published admissions page before booking a test sitting. Submitting the wrong test can mean a wasted cycle.
Test Innovators' practice-test data from across the SSAT pool shows that five states - Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, Florida, and Washington - produce the highest average scores. New Jersey and Massachusetts tend to outperform other states across all three sections. California ranks second only to Massachusetts on math.
These are also the states with the most concentrated networks of feeder schools, prep programs, and tutoring infrastructure - so the high regional averages reflect both strong schools and significant prep investment.
The practical takeaway: percentile is a national figure, but applicant pools at any given school are often regional. A 90th percentile score from a less prep-saturated region competes against the same national 90th percentile from the Northeast - but the regional applicant pools to those schools may differ in average strength.
For most families, this is a wash. The SSAT score requirements by school discussion is national, percentile-based, and consistent. Regional patterns mostly affect which test you take and how stiff your local feeder competition feels - not the percentile target itself.
Numbers without strategy do not help. The whole point of knowing average SSAT scores by school type is to make better list-building decisions in the months before applications close.
The strongest applications carry a score that comfortably places the student in the upper half of the admitted class. If a school's published average is the 85th percentile, target the 90th-95th. This buffer accomplishes two things: it positions the application above the median, and it offsets weaker areas elsewhere in the file.
The score is rarely the limiting factor at the top of the range - but a score below average creates a meaningful drag the rest of the application has to overcome.
A balanced private-school list typically looks like 1-2 reach schools, 3-4 target schools, and 1-2 likely schools. Use SSAT averages as the primary sorting tool: a school is a "reach" if your score sits noticeably below its average, a "target" if you are within a few points of the average, and "likely" if you sit above. Adjust for application strength elsewhere - a strong interview profile or recruited-athlete status can move a reach into target territory.
Retakes pay off when they cross a tier boundary. Moving from the 79th to the 85th percentile opens a meaningful set of schools previously out of range. Moving from the 88th to the 91st changes very little - the rest of the application is what determines outcomes at that level.
Before booking a retake, ask: "Will this score realistically jump a tier?" If yes, it is worth the time. If no, that prep time is almost always better spent on essays, interviews, recommendations, and the rest of the application file.
Enter your SSAT percentile to see which school tiers fit as reach, target, or likely.