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<p>This captures exactly my feelings of liberation at attending my in-state flagship.</p>
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<p>I think we’re in agreement here. Unlike Pizzagirl, I had the opportunity to attend an exceptional in-state flagship. The point I’ve tried to make here (and elsewhere on CC) is that not all state flagships are cut from the same cloth, and it’s a huge mistake to lump them all together. The middle 50% ACT scores at my public flagship alma mater, Michigan, are 28-32, figures that are much closer to those at Pizzagirl’s private alma mater, Northwestern (middle 50% ACT 30-35) than they are to the in-state public flagship Pizzagirl rejected, the University of Missouri (middle 50% ACT 23-28). A student with a 30 ACT would be in the 85th percentile of her class at Mizzou, in the 37th percentile at Michigan, and in the 15th percentile at Northwestern. A student with a 32+ ACT would be a rarity at Mizzou (probably fewer than 400 out of an entering class of 6,000), in roughly the top half of the class at Northwestern, and in the top quartile at Michigan–but with Michigan’s larger class, there would actually be more such students at Michigan (about 1,500 per entering class) than at Northwestern (about 1,000). Bottom line, a top student could find students of like ability at Mizzou but it would take a lot of effort and they’d all be outliers. At Michigan they’d be common enough and numerous enough to be nothing out of the ordinary, and easy to find. At Northwestern they’d be tripping over each other. I’m not convinced the difference between “nothing out of the ordinary and easy to find” and “tripping over each other” is of great significance, but in any event it’s a smaller difference than that between either of those categories and “a rarity and an outlier.” </p>