Understanding SAT score percentiles?

I'm trying to wrap my head around SAT score percentiles. Can anyone explain it to me in plain English? Like, if I'm at the 90th percentile, does that mean I did better than 90% of test-takers? And is that a good place to be?

Yes, you're on the right track with your understanding of percentiles. If your SAT score is in the 90th percentile, it indeed means that you scored higher than 90% of test-takers.

In terms of whether it's a good place to be, that largely depends on the specific colleges you're interested in. For most schools, a 90th percentile SAT score would be considered quite competitive. However, for extremely selective institutions, scores in the 90th percentile might still be on the low end, because their applicant pool tends to consist of very high-achieving students.

I recommend comparing your percentile to the middle 50% SAT scores of students at the colleges you're interested in. These scores will give you a good understanding of the SAT scores that were acceptable to those institutions in the past. It's important to remember that a strong SAT score is just one piece of the college admissions puzzle, and other aspects such as your GPA, extracurricular activities, essays, and letters of recommendation also play critical roles in the admissions process.