<p>Good observation by Sam Lee in post #108.</p>
<p>I think a quadruple tie is a little rediculous, however.</p>
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<p>Oh yes, it is. Being top 10% (especially when using weighed GPA) in many high schools means that you’re a top student at a certain school and that you know how to push yourself yet maintain consistently quality work compared to your peers. It means that you stand out academically from the rest of the pack in most of your classes. Having many people in the top 10% means that your school has students who know how balance their schedules so that they can not only succeed but stand out academically compared to the rest of their peers. It, IMO, is the most accurate depiction of hard work, consistency, and time management where it matters, the classroom.</p>
<p>^ Then are you suggesting that UCSD is legitimately more selective than HYP?</p>
<p>It is biased in favor of the UCs and any school that takes advantage of it. And as we all know, not all high schools are equal. Half of the class at a school like Stuy or TJ could probably be valedictorians at an average public school.</p>
<p>Asian1, despite the CA asian populations obsession with Stanford, there are many reasons you can argue that it shouldn’t be number 1. The most convincing of those arguments, in my opinion, is that it is not as intellectual/academically selective as HYP: Stanford’s average matriculating SAT range and average GPA are a tier below that of HYP.</p>
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<p>Do any of us doubt that Harvard could make that number 100% if they wanted to? Comparing 95 to 99 is ridiculous: it is penalizing Harvard for looking ‘beyond the numbers’ and admitting certain students from out side the top decile who show excellent academic potential but went to a very difficult school.</p>
<p>if you are not in the first decile, don’t apply to Penn apparently</p>
<p>Also, any idea why Princeton is now back to number 1 as opposed to number 2 or 3? I would have thought that they would have been hurt by the fact that this is the first year that they gave up early decision (and their acceptance rate rose). Were they boosted by the “undergraduate attention” rating and peer assessment scores?</p>
<p>happymedstudent might actually still be in high school. For sure not a “happy med student”. I guess Duke didn’t want him, either.</p>
<p>bigp9998,
^Penn is definitely ahead of everyone in this game. The question is when will other schools follow its step. Harvard isn’t penalized (and therefore pressured) in the sense that it’s already in the top-3 and there’s no unilateral move into that direction from YP.</p>
<p>booyaksha:</p>
<p>Princeton gained .1 in PA. This was enough to put them back into a tie with Harvard.</p>
<p>thanks phuriku</p>
<p>Does anyone have the overall scores for the top 3 LACs?</p>
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<p>I haven’t seen anyone post who goes to Brown in this thread so far.</p>
<p>FWIW, what I’d like to read is how they determined their undergraduate teaching quality list. I’m very curious how they think they can measure that.</p>
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<p>HPY has ~95% in the top 10% anyways, so there’s really no point to argue that.</p>
<p>Don’t discount those top 10% at the “average public school”. A lot of them are probably as smart as (or even smarter than) the Thomas Jefferson kids. Being valedictorian or salutatorian is no joke, even at these “average public schools”. They know the key to success is to stand out from the pack (no offense, but would you rather be average at Harvard or valedictorian at UCSD, a less selective school? I think the latter would get into Harvard Law much easier than the former.). And don’t forget, many schools also consider course rigor and SAT scores into serious account, so it’s not like anyone’s taking advantage of the top-10 cutoff (besides UT cough cough).</p>
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<p>…as it has been for years. USNews gives the most weight to peer assessment. They’ll catch up eventually. Midd’s PA score increased this year, so movement can and does occur over time.</p>
<p>^
modestmelody,
I don’t see how they can measure that without sitting through classes in each school. My cynical side says that USN threw this in because it doesn’t want people to recycle neighbors’/friends’ older copies.</p>
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Consider that there are probably 25-30k high schools in America. There are probably a good 300,000 kids in each grade who are in the top 10% at each school. These aren’t slim pickings. Any top 50 school could fill their classes with only top 10% students and if they did they would be less selective than they currently are. It is ridiculous to suggest that these 300k students could all compare with the average TJ students. Schools like Stuy and TJ have stringent entrance requirements. I’ve heard of USAMO qualifiers that couldn’t initially get into some of these schools.</p>
<p>Gee, happymedstudent supposedly only joined cc 3 weeks ago, but knows who is a penn mommy? Hmmmmm. I think 45percenter was spot on in post #100.</p>
<p>I love how the most ferocious debates here are about the Top 10 schools. As if there’s any real difference amongst them…</p>