"Anywhere else it would have been an A." Comments please?

[A.E]

<p>

@MomPhD

Re class ranks, about half of the HSs do not report this anymore; I don’t know what % reported it in 1995. The % could have trended downward and therefore rank may not be a great metric for comparison. Has AP performance gone up (in number of courses and tests taken, as well as scores?) since 1995? I suspect so.

Absolutely.</p>

<p>

The College Board and our local schools always appear to be adding to their offerings. Applicants may not be inherently “smarter” now, but they may have to be more prepared (have taken more rigorous courses etc) to be accepted.

My assertion is that the average Swarthmore student today is more competent than the average Swarthmore student from 10 or 20 years ago. I happen to also believe that their average intelligence has risen as well. It would seem to be a logical consequence of the school’s declining acceptance rate.</p>