My older daughter is nearly halfway through her junior year of high school. So you know one thing I'm thinking about: college.
I came across an interesting set of figures for various colleges and universities. The list can help prospective students get a feel for where they stand when in comes to their SAT scores. By the way, only one school affiliated with the Churches of Christ appears in the list. That's because my source (the N. Y. Times) reports on only those schools that accept fewer than 50% of their applicants.
What follows is a short, representative list. It gives the following: (1) The name of the school, (2) the percentage of applications accepted by that school, and (3) the range of the middle 50% of SAT scores among those accepted (i.e., excluding the top and bottom 25% of the SAT scores). Take a look:
Boston College, 32%, 1240-1410
Emory, 39%, 1300-1460
Harvard, 11%, 1400-1580
Notre Dame, 30%, 1280-1470
Oberlin, 37%, 1250-1440
Pepperdine, 27%, 1110-1310
Rice, 22%. 1330-1540
U. N. C., Chapel Hill, 36%, 1190-1390
U. of Tennessee, 44%, 1000-1230
Vanderbilt, 38%, 1270-1440
Yale, 10%, 1400-1560
The school on the list with the most number of applications? U.C.LA. with 43,199! How'd you like to be at the bottom of that stack?
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3 comments:
I have to hone up on my SAT stuff. I took the ACT so the numbers mean very little to me. I just know 1600 is a perfect score right?
I am glad I have time before I have to worry about this. I bet Auburn didn't rank too high on the list. It was still a great learning experience for me.
Steve,
I took the ACT too, but never the SAT.
Anyway, the old high score on SAT was/is 1600. Right now they're adding an essay segment worth a possible 800. So the new best score will be 2400.
Of course, this will mean that kids will start telling unsuspecting adults, "I scored 1600 on the SAT" realizing they don't know that's only 66%!
I never took the SAT or ACT. I finished 400th out of 425 in my HS Graduating Class. After ACU, I earned Master's degrees from two on your list, Boston College and Emory, taken courses from another (Harvard) and sent a child to another (Peppperdine).
I wonder how "educational" a place is if the organizing principle is to start off with the best and brightest. What I'd like to see is a before-and-after: like an SAT test before college and another one at the end -- and then rate the schools on "most improved/educated" students.
For me, what was key was motivation. During High School, I lived for myself. After coming to know Christ, I came to see myself as "under (His) development" and uniquely shaped to carry out his ongoing work in the world. To be certain, a school can't tell you who you are or even what to think, and much less, how to live.
Looking back, my favorite school was Boston College. I felt respected and supported to be responsible for my own learning. Though thoroughly Jesuit, I was encouraged to explore my own story and vision (or that of my chosen tradition or outlook). And though by the end, I was chagrined, and occasionally depressed, to discover that I'd completed a course of study in a field that barely existed in my own faith tradition, it also marked the beginning of a stage in life in which I came to feel the wholeness I'd so long sought.
When I look at the list of prestigious universities, I think of lessons I'm learning about reading the stock market. When a company's stock price is high, the time to buy has passed. I have no doubt that these schools have been built, and often endowed, by people of integrity and had noble ideals. Harvard, itself, began as a school to train ministers. Over time, though, when the attraction of an institution is found in its capacity to provide a fast-track to perpetual money, sex and power for the already rich, beautiful and talented, it had entered its twilight years.
While hard to find, I'd look for a school whose President. trustees and faculty are the kind of people you'd like to have as conversation partners, fellow church members and even friends someday. In choosing a school, I'd look for the core values that undergird the institution and the relative happiness of those who graduate.
For the best website rating academic and vocational institutions, check out http://www.princetonreview.edu.
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