| pastandheels, Collegeboard.com:
Duke 1380 - 1550,
Amherst - 1330 - 1530
I dunno why its different, collegeboard is usually more current. I'll try and see what the difference is - maybe the stats changed somewhat in two years since US News data is for Class of 2009.
Since I'm data mining - National Merit Scholars:
Duke - 118
Amherst - 22
Those two gauges are decent measures of the strength of students academically. Duke and Amherst both have similar placement into elite professional schools so they are identical in that area.
patsandheels - googlebot commented that the ranking was meaningless because Duke was ranked above Amherst. I was commenting on why its not shocking that Amherst is ranked below Duke on a gauge of popular opinion. Amherst is certainly not academically superior to Duke (nor vice versa), and its smaller so its less well known or at least has less applicants. Size and rep matter on an informal poll such as this.
Even in empirical comparisons (rather than informal prestige poll such as this), you'd be hard-pressed to show why Amherst deserves to be ranked in the top 10 or so schools on any list. The top Uni's have great grad programs, but also great undergrads. |