Dickinson vs. Wooster

Corbett
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 20:45:17 +0000

Regarding the ACT/SAT score comparison between Wooster and Dickinson, don’t forget that Dickinson is test-optional, while the College of Wooster is not. Collegedata reports the mid 50%tile ACT scores as 27-30 for Dickinson, and 25-30 for Wooster. Since Dickinson is test-optional, I assume the actual scores of enrolled students is somewhat lower than 27-30, making the test score difference much less meaningful between the two colleges.

Good point, I did forget that. If all students reported scores, Dickinson’s numbers would probably drop, although we can only speculate about the magnitude of the potential difference. And the difference would probably be mostly at the lower end, because people with lower scores are less likely to submit them.

USN&WR applies an arbitrary 15% discount to the scores at test-optional schools, so this factor does affect Dickinson’s ranking. But there is no way to know how accurate their adjustment is.