Marist SAT Scores, GPA, and ACT (2026)

The section split tells the story of Marist SAT scores: the middle 50 percent of enrolled students landed between 600 and 680 in Reading and Writing and between 590 and 660 in Math, based on 2024-2025 federal data. Stack those together and the composite middle 50 runs from 1190 to 1340, with an average of 1295. The verbal side runs about 10 to 20 points higher than the math side at both ends of the range, so Marist admits tend to be slightly stronger readers than calculators. On the ACT, the middle 50 sits at 25 to 31.

Marist University is a private nonprofit school in Poughkeepsie, NY, with 5,182 undergraduates, small enough that admissions can read applications with some care. The acceptance rate is 56.5%, which means a bit more than 1 out of 2 applicants gets in. That is a genuinely reachable school, but not a formality: nearly half of applicants still hear no. Testing is optional in the most recent federal data, so the published ranges reflect students who chose to send scores. In practice, that pushes the reported numbers up a little, and it means a submitted score should help your case, not just check a box.

Below 1190, you are under 3 out of 4 enrolled students who submitted scores. Since Marist is test optional in the most recent federal data, a score down there usually does more harm than good on the application, and withholding it becomes the smarter play while you retest. Inside the 1190 to 1340 band, your score matches the bulk of the class, and with a 56.5% acceptance rate that is a solid position: your transcript and activities carry the rest. Above 1340, you outscore roughly 3 out of 4 enrolled students, which makes Marist a likely admit for a candidate with grades in range and puts merit scholarship money in play.

Check your section balance too. Reading and Writing sets the higher bar at Marist, 600 at the 25th percentile against 590 for Math, and 680 at the 75th against 660. A lopsided score with a weak verbal section stands out more here than a slightly soft Math number.

Admitted students at Marist typically present an unweighted GPA somewhere around 3.3 to 3.7. That is mostly A minus and B plus territory, with room for a few ordinary Bs. You do not need a spotless transcript to be a serious candidate here, but a steady record matters, and an upward trend from freshman to junior year reads well.

The number on its own is only half of what admissions readers see. Grades earned in rigorous courses count as much as the number itself: a 3.5 built on honors and AP classes carries more weight than a 3.7 built on the lightest schedule available. If your GPA sits at the lower edge of that band, a strong SAT is the fastest offset. Junior year grades are largely locked in by application season, but a test score can still move. Landing at or above the 1340 mark gives a reader a concrete reason to look past a 3.3.

Set two targets. Scoring at or above 1190 keeps you in range for Marist; scoring at or above 1340 puts you in the top quarter of enrolled students and strengthens any scholarship case. Split by section, that upper target means roughly 680 in Reading and Writing and 660 in Math. If you are starting near 1100, closing a 90 point gap to the 25th percentile is a normal outcome of a focused prep block, not a moonshot.

Start by finding out where you actually stand: take a short diagnostic and get a section by section read on your current score. Then compare your result against the 1190 and 1340 lines and pick the target that fits your GPA. Our score plans map out the weekly work to get from one line to the other. Your concrete next step: take the diagnostic this week, write down your gap to 1190, and book your first practice session against your weakest section.