LIM SAT Scores, GPA, and ACT (2026)

Start with the section split, because it tells you where LIM sat scores actually come from. The middle 50 percent of students land between 500 and 580 on Reading and Writing and between 460 and 558 on Math, so the verbal side runs about 40 points ahead of the quant side at the 25th percentile. Put together, the composite middle 50 runs from 960 to 1138, and the average SAT sits at 1035. In the most recent federal data, LIM is test optional, which means these numbers reflect the students who decided their scores helped them.

The admissions picture is open. LIM admits 95.9% of applicants, so the score bands describe who enrolls, not a cutoff that keeps people out. The school itself is small and specific: a private for profit college in New York, NY with 1,187 students, which is a fraction of the size of most city campuses. For students who submit the ACT instead, the middle 50 runs from 19 to 25. All figures here come from the 2024-2025 cycle, so treat them as a current snapshot rather than a moving target you need to outguess.

Read your own score against the 960 to 1138 band. Below 960 puts you under 3 out of 4 enrolled students. With a 95.9% admit rate that is unlikely to sink an application, but at a test optional school it is a score you would probably hold back rather than submit. Inside the band, say a 1040 or 1100, you look like a typical LIM student, and anything above the 1035 average adds a modest point in your favor. Above 1138 puts you past 3 out of 4 classmates, which can matter for placement and for how your file reads overall.

The section splits sharpen this. Reading and Writing sets the higher bar: its middle 50 runs 500 to 580, while Math runs 460 to 558. A 550 on the verbal section is ordinary here, but a 550 on Math already clears the 75th percentile. If your Math score is your stronger one, your composite will stand out faster at LIM than the raw number suggests.

Admitted students at LIM typically present an unweighted GPA around 3.0 to 3.5. That is a wide band, and it fits a school that admits 95.9% of the people who apply: solid B work in your core classes puts you in company with most of the incoming class, and you do not need a spotless transcript to get a serious look.

Still, the number on its own is only half the story. Grades earned in rigorous courses count as much as the number itself. A 3.2 built on honors English and a real math sequence reads better than a 3.5 built on the lightest schedule your school offers. And if your GPA sits at the lower edge of that band, a strong SAT is the fastest offset available. Grades take semesters to move. A score can move in weeks. Since LIM is test optional, a submitted score above its 1035 average is a signal you chose to send, and it lands that way.

Set two concrete targets. Scoring at or above 960, the 25th percentile, keeps you in range with the enrolled class. Scoring at or above 1138 puts you in the top quarter, and since LIM is test optional, that is the kind of score worth sending. By section, that means pushing Reading and Writing toward 580 and Math toward 558 or better.

Work backward from those numbers instead of studying blind. Take a diagnostic to find out where you stand against the 960 and 1138 lines today, then use score plans to map the point gap to a week by week schedule. If you are 100 points under your target, that gap usually closes with steady sectioned practice, not marathon weekends. And because Math has the lower bar here, quick wins on algebra and problem solving move your composite fastest.

Next step: take the diagnostic this week, write down your gap to 1138, and build your plan around closing it before your test date.