What is South Dakota's Proactive Admissions program?

A South Dakota Board of Regents program that notifies eligible students of guaranteed general admission to the state's public universities and technical institutes -- before the student applies. Eligibility is based on 11th-grade Smarter Balanced assessment scores or an ACT composite score.

How is Proactive Admissions different from a normal college application?

Students don't apply first to become eligible -- the state identifies qualifying students from test data already on file and notifies them directly that they're admitted. A separate, newer pilot program, Fast Track Admission, extends this even earlier, notifying some juniors in select cities during their junior year rather than waiting until senior year.

South Dakota's Proactive Admissions: You Get Admitted Before You Even Apply

Q: What score do you need for South Dakota's Proactive Admissions?

A Level 3 or 4 on the 11th-grade Smarter Balanced assessment in both English and math, or an ACT composite score of 18.

South Dakota runs its guarantee in reverse order from most states: instead of a student applying and then finding out if they cleared a bar, the state identifies who's already cleared it and tells them first.

See how this compares to the other 10 states with a real guarantee mechanism.

How it works

The South Dakota Board of Regents identifies students who've earned a Level 3 or 4 on their 11th-grade Smarter Balanced assessment in both English and math, or who've posted an ACT composite score of 18 or higher, and proactively notifies them of guaranteed general admission to the state's public universities -- University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, and the rest of the system -- along with its technical institutes. No application is required to receive this notification; it's generated from test data the state already has on file.

The part that surprises people: a newer pilot notifies students even earlier

Building on the original Proactive Admissions model, South Dakota launched a Fast Track Admission pilot that notifies some students during their junior year, not senior year -- currently rolled out in Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, and Spearfish. A participating junior can find out they're already admitted to a South Dakota public university more than a year before they'd normally submit a college application anywhere.

The catch: notification isn't enrollment

Being notified of guaranteed admission doesn't complete the process. Students still need to apply to the specific university or universities they actually want to attend to activate the offer -- the proactive notification tells a student where the door is open, not that they've walked through it.

What this means for you

Check your 11th-grade Smarter Balanced results even if your ACT hasn't hit 18 yet. Either pathway qualifies independently -- you don't need both.
A notification letter isn't the same as being enrolled. Complete the actual application to the school you want, even after receiving a proactive admission notice.
If your high school is in Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, or Spearfish, ask your counselor about the Fast Track pilot specifically. It's a distinct, earlier-notifying program layered on top of the standard Proactive Admissions process, not available statewide yet.
This covers general admission to the university, not specific competitive programs, the same limitation that applies in nearly every other state's guarantee.

Sources

Fast Track Admission — South Dakota Board of Regents