By Glyn Caddell, BSME · Author of Digital SAT Math Secrets · Tutoring since 2008 — Updated September 29, 2026
Eight Pennsylvania colleges with pre-med programs, what they cost, and the SAT scores of the students they admit.
They’re listed by SAT range, highest first, so you can find your own score on the list rather than reading all eight entries to work out where you fit.
One thing to know before you start. A published SAT range is the middle 50% of admitted students, not a minimum. A quarter of the students at every school below scored under the lower number, and a quarter scored over the upper one. More on what a published SAT range means.
Table of Contents
- Pennsylvania Pre-Med Colleges by SAT Range
- What If Your Score Is Below the Range You Want?
- Pre-Med Programs in Nearby States
Pennsylvania Pre-Med Colleges by SAT Range
| College | Reading & Writing | Math | Cost of attendance | Undergraduates | Admit rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania | 740 to 770 | 770 to 800 | $89,028 | 10,650 | 5% |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 730 to 770 | 770 to 800 | $83,654 | 7,304 | 12% |
| Swarthmore College | 740 to 770 | 750 to 790 | $84,103 | 1,613 | 7% |
| Villanova University | 685 to 740 | 710 to 770 | $84,793 | 6,938 | 27% |
| University of Pittsburgh | 640 to 720 | 640 to 740 | $38,105 | 20,370 | 58% |
| Drexel University | 620 to 700 | 620 to 740 | $76,835 | 13,233 | 79% |
| Pennsylvania State University | 620 to 700 | 620 to 720 | $39,694 | 42,284 | 61% |
| Temple University | Does not report SAT data | Does not report SAT data | $40,903 | 20,970 | 80% |
Each range covers the middle 50% of admitted students who submitted scores. A quarter scored below the lower number, and the top quarter scored at or above the upper one. Being under the lower number does not rule a student out, and being just above it is not as safe as it looks.
Three things about that table are worth pausing on.
The top of this list is unusually tight. Penn, Carnegie Mellon and Swarthmore admit students with nearly identical scores, and all three have a Math 75th percentile of 790 or 800. At that level the score isn’t what separates the applications.
Cost of attendance is the full figure, including tuition, fees, room and board, before any financial aid. Pennsylvania has an unusually wide spread here: five private universities above $76,000 and three public options at less than half that. Tuition alone is given in each entry, and it’s where the in-state and out-of-state difference matters.
Temple doesn’t report SAT data, which is increasingly common. It means the score carries less weight there than at a school that does report, and it also means there’s no range to compare yourself against. More on test-optional colleges and what that changes.
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University of Pennsylvania
Penn offers a pre-med program with a foundational science curriculum, research opportunities, and personalized advising.
Reading & Writing 740 to 770, Math 770 to 800. The top quarter of admitted students scored at or above 770 and 800. Average total score 1553. Cost of attendance $89,028, with tuition and fees at $68,686. 10,650 undergraduates, 5% admitted.
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon runs its pre-med program through the Mellon College of Science, with rigorous coursework, research opportunities, and personalized advising.
Reading & Writing 730 to 770, Math 770 to 800. The top quarter scored at or above 770 and 800. Average total score 1546. Cost of attendance $83,654, with tuition and fees at $66,246. 7,304 undergraduates, 12% admitted.
Carnegie Mellon and Penn have the same Math range, and at least a quarter of admitted students at both earned a perfect 800.
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore’s pre-med program focuses on fundamental science education within a liberal arts background. Students have access to advising, workshops, internships, and research opportunities.
Reading & Writing 740 to 770, Math 750 to 790. The top quarter scored at or above 770 and 790. Average total score 1534. Cost of attendance $84,103, with tuition and fees at $65,494. 1,613 undergraduates, 7% admitted.
Swarthmore is by far the smallest school on this list, at approximately a quarter the size of Carnegie Mellon and a twenty-sixth the size of Penn State. For a student who wants to be known by his advisors, that’s the number on this page that matters most.
Villanova University
Villanova provides a pre-medical advisory program covering the academic curriculum, community service opportunities, and preparation for the Medical College Admission Test.
Reading & Writing 685 to 740, Math 710 to 770. The top quarter scored at or above 740 and 770. Average total score 1460. Cost of attendance $84,793, with tuition and fees at $67,776. 6,938 undergraduates, 27% admitted.
Villanova costs more than Carnegie Mellon and admits at more than twice the rate. Cost and selectivity do not move together as reliably as families expect.
University of Pittsburgh
Pitt’s pre-med program combines coursework with research and internship opportunities, along with advising and support for the medical school application process.
Reading & Writing 640 to 720, Math 640 to 740. The top quarter scored at or above 720 and 740. Average total score 1370. Cost of attendance $38,105, with tuition and fees at $21,926 in-state and $41,430 out-of-state. 20,370 undergraduates, 58% admitted.
This is the strongest score profile among the public options and it costs less than half what the private schools above it do, for in-state students.
Drexel University
Drexel’s pre-med program combines a foundational curriculum with research and real-world experience through cooperative education, which is the distinctive part of a Drexel degree.
Reading & Writing 620 to 700, Math 620 to 740. The top quarter scored at or above 700 and 740. Average total score 1345. Cost of attendance $76,835, with tuition and fees at $62,412. 13,233 undergraduates, 79% admitted.
Drexel and Penn State admit students with almost identical scores. The cost of attendance differs by approximately $37,000 a year.
Pennsylvania State University
Penn State offers a pre-med program with a foundational science curriculum, research opportunities, and support through the medical school application process.
Reading & Writing 620 to 700, Math 620 to 720. The top quarter scored at or above 700 and 720. Average total score 1337. Cost of attendance $39,694, with tuition and fees at $20,644 in-state and $41,790 out-of-state. 42,284 undergraduates, 61% admitted.
This is the largest school on the list by a wide margin.
Temple University
Temple’s pre-med program runs through the College of Science and Technology, with an emphasis on research and hands-on experience.
The university does not report SAT score data. Cost of attendance $40,903, with tuition and fees at $23,011 in-state and $38,958 out-of-state. 20,970 undergraduates, 80% admitted.
What If Your Score Is Below the Range You Want?
Being below a school’s published range doesn’t disqualify anyone. A quarter of the students admitted to every school on this list scored below its lower number.
It does mean the score isn’t helping the application, and at a selective school that matters more than at a less selective one. The number worth aiming for is the top of a school’s range rather than the middle, and the reasoning behind that is on what SAT score you need for college.
The useful part is that the gap is measurable. So is the work to close it. A 70 to 130 point improvement takes approximately 40 hours of effective studying, based on the students we’ve worked with since 2008, and a 130 to 250 point improvement takes approximately 80.
Whether that’s available to you depends on how much time is left before your applications are due. How to improve your SAT score covers the method, including how to work out which topics are actually costing you points.
If you don’t have a recent score to compare against this list, a free diagnostic SAT gives you one, plus a breakdown of where the points are going.
Pre-Med Programs in Nearby States
Students applying to pre-med programs in this region normally look across state lines, particularly toward New York and New Jersey in the east and Ohio in the west.
We cover each of those states separately, with the same figures and the same ordering: pre-med colleges in New York, pre-med colleges in New Jersey, and pre-med colleges in Ohio.
How to Read a College's SAT Range
Every range on this page is the middle 50% of admitted students. The lower number is the 25th percentile and the upper number is the 75th.
That means a score at the bottom of a range is not a typical admitted score, it’s a bottom-quarter one. And the bottom quarter includes recruited athletes and legacy applicants, so a regular applicant sitting there is in a weaker position than the number suggests.
See what SAT score you need for college for how to turn a score into a realistic list.
Pre-Med Colleges in Other States
We publish the same breakdown for pre-med programs in every state.
See pre-med colleges by state for the full list.
Glyn Caddell
Glyn Caddell holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from NJIT and has been tutoring New York City students since 2008. He founded Caddell Prep in 2012 and is the author of Digital SAT Math Secrets: Lessons & Tricks to Quickly Improve to a Perfect 800 on the Math Test, which contains over 900 practice problems and is used in Caddell Prep’s SAT math classes. He is founding president of the Staten Island Technical High School alumni association and teaches every lesson on this site personally.
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