Yes: 1450 is an excellent score, roughly the 91st percentile of all SAT test-takers. A 1450 is roughly the 91st percentile, the top 9% of test-takers. At almost every college in the country this is a clear asset. At the fifteen or so most selective, it is respectable but not distinguishing.
Is 1450 a good SAT score?
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Total score | 1450 out of 1600 |
| Percentile | ~91st |
| Beats | ~91% of test-takers |
| Typical balanced split | 725 R&W + 725 Math |
| Rating | Excellent |
Percentiles are approximate and shift slightly year to year with the test-taking population. Treat the figure as a band rather than a precise rank. The published tables live in College Board's Understanding SAT Scores.
Colleges where a 1450 SAT score is competitive
Essentially all state flagships, the overwhelming majority of private universities, and most top-30 schools where it sits inside the middle 50%.
Where it's a stretch
The top 10 (Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Caltech) where 1450 tends to sit near or just below the 25th percentile of admitted students.
1450 clears the midpoint at the overwhelming majority of American universities, including most of the top 50. The handful of schools where it does not are the ten or so most selective in the country, and those are worth checking individually rather than assuming: how to read a college's Common Data Set.
At 1450 the interesting question has shifted. The score is an asset on essentially every list, so the decision is no longer whether to submit it but whether any further testing time is better spent elsewhere in the application.
Should you submit it?
Yes, everywhere, without qualification for all but a handful of applicants. 1450 is above the midpoint at the overwhelming majority of universities in the country, which means it is helping your application at almost every school you could plausibly apply to.
The only list on which it is not clearly an asset is one confined to the ten or so most selective institutions, and even there it is comfortably inside the published range rather than below it. If any of your schools require the SAT, that settles the remaining cases.
Getting to 1500
The gap from 1450 to 1500 is about 5 questions across the whole 98-question test.
Only about five questions separate you from 1500, which makes this the highest-leverage stretch on the whole scale, and the one where the right diagnosis matters most.
At 1450, almost nothing left is a content gap. Your five are near-certainly careless errors, timing losses, or a single recurring blind spot. Work through the ten traps on the Math side and check whether Command of Evidence or words in context is costing you two a test on the other.
Be honest about whether it's worth it. If your list tops out at schools where 1450 is already inside the middle 50%, your marginal hour is better spent on essays than on five questions.
A 1450 means you almost certainly reached the harder Module 2 in both sections. From here the ceiling isn't structural. It's precision. The score calculator shows exactly what each path allows.
Is another sitting worth it?
Usually not, and the exceptions are specific. 1450 clears the midpoint at nearly every university in the country, so the score has stopped being the limiting factor on the application for all but a very short list of schools.
The cases that still justify it: a top-ten list where 1450 sits in the lower half of the published range, or a scholarship threshold with a hard cutoff above you. Both are narrow, and both are checkable in an afternoon rather than guessed at.
The case against is opportunity cost, and at this score it is real. The work required to move 1450 meaningfully is substantial, and the same hours spent on essays, recommendations or a genuine extracurricular commitment will usually do more for the application than 30 more points.
Frequently asked questions
Is 1450 a good SAT score?
Yes: 1450 is roughly the 91st percentile, above about 91% of test-takers. Whether it's good enough depends on your list: competitive means at or above the middle of your schools' published ranges.
What percentile is a 1450 SAT score?
About the 91st percentile. This shifts slightly year to year with the test-taking population, so read it as a band rather than an exact rank.
What is a 1450 SAT score out of each section?
Balanced, about 725 R&W and 725 Math. Real splits are often lopsided, which is actually easier to improve, since you can target one section, especially with superscoring.
How many questions can you miss for a 1450?
On a balanced split, about 7 in Reading & Writing and 6 in Math (725 per section). Full answer
Should I retake the SAT with a 1450?
Retake if 1450 is below the middle 50% at schools you want, if your colleges superscore (a second sitting can only help), or if a scholarship threshold is just above you. Full answer
What colleges can I get into with a 1450 SAT?
No score guarantees or excludes admission anywhere. It's one factor among grades, rigor, essays and activities. To judge fit, check each college's Common Data Set section C9 for the 25th/75th percentile of enrolled students.