Hey merc81 and CircuitRider: Have you two ever duked it out about Wesleyan versus Amherst? I just realized from reading some other posts that you two are both very knowledgeable about those particular colleges, both of which seem like great places. It looks like merc81 has a kid at Amherst (and also is an alum, maybe?). And Circuit Rider appears to be the most loyal Wesleyan alum in the entire country. Can you point me to any good posts comparing the two cultures, academics, etc.?
I noticed some strange statistical anomalies about those two colleges. I had heard that Amherst was, on average, slightly harder to get into than Wesleyan, but maybe that’s not right. Wesleyan seems to have slightly higher standardized test stats than Amherst, even though Wesleyan is test optional. Is that because Wesleyan doesn’t count the scores for about a fifth of the admitted students in when it reports its test stats?
25 percent of admitted Amherst freshman who submitted ACT scores supposedly had ACT scores of 30 or below, with 75 percent supposedly having 30 or above. By contrast, 25 percent of admitted Wesleyan freshman who submitted ACT scores supposedly had ACT scores of 33 or below, with 75% supposedly having 33 or above.
Here are the numbers from the Amherst website:
SAT middle 50%: Evidence-Based Reading & Writing: 700-770; Math 720-790
ACT middle 50%: Composite: 30-34; English: 32-35; Math: 28-34
Here are the numbers from the Wesleyan website (which are not presented the same way:
SAT middle 50%: Evidence-Based Reading & Writing: 710-770; Math 740-790
ACT middle 50%: Composite: 33-35 (No details provided on English and Math ACT)
Also, do you know why Amherst freshman do better on English than Math when taking the ACT but better on Math than English when taking the SAT? (I can’t tell whether this is true for Wesleyan freshman.)
You two are both amazing, so I hope you’ll respond.
Thanks.