<p>I always thought the student bodies at the schools listed were just too close to say “this one is stronger - go here”. It’s not like comparing a 1420 average at one school vs. a 1180 at another. </p>
<p>IMO, fit should be the resounding #1 factor when picking between schools like Cornell, Penn, NU.</p>
<p>That table seems to have come out wrong between what I typed and what CC printed. I’ve noticed that about CC before; somehow it misaligns tables. I’m looking at it now and I can’t understand what I typed myself. It should have read:</p>
<p>At Cornell : 66% from the Northeast, 8% from the Midwest
At Northwestern : 22% from the Northeast, 42% from the Midwest.</p>
<p>^^ yes i garnered that, i thought that the regional biases even at such international schools was remarkable</p>
<p>“Geographic preference is one reason why Mid-west schools tend to have students with higher ACT scores than schools in the NE.”</p>
<p>Well to say this differently-</p>
<p>The test of choice for midwest publics is the ACT. So most kids there take the ACT as a matter of routine. Therefore, if there’s a school that is “submit whichever test you want”, most midwest students will at least have the ACT scores to submit if they are better.</p>
<p>No schools in the northeast require the ACT. So most students don’t routinely take it. It has really only garnered any following there in quite recent years, as students applying to competititve colleges learn that in many cases they have this option of which tests to submit. But I’m sure it’s still true that a far smaller percentage of students in the Northeast take the ACT at all than in the Midwest.</p>
<p>If a student from the Northeast is submitting only the ACT, you have to assume that they also took the SAT but their scores on it were worse. But this will typically be a small % of applicants there I would imagine, and would be a larger % for applicants from the midwest. IMO, ACT scores should not be used to compare such schools if only a small % of the class will have submitted, and on such a self-selected basis.</p>
<p>Monydad: I wish I could just send my ACT’s but they want SAT II’s and that means I have to send my SAT’s as well…</p>
<p>monydad,</p>
<p>by that logic, wouldn’t northeastern schools have higher ACT averages, since students from the northeast only submit their scores if they are good, while midwesterners submit them regardless?</p>
<p>1) if you have to send SAT IIs anyway then clearly only ACT is optional . This depends on the school, clearly. My D last year encountered a number of schools where it was either/or. But, being a lazy northeasterner, she didn’t take the ACT.</p>
<p>2) IMO a test should not be relied on as representative of a college’s student body if only a small percentage of the student body submits, and then only if they are better. Particularly when different proportions of students are involved in each case. I would not recommend trying to evaluate such non-representative tails.</p>
<p>In both cases, the ACT scores will only be submitted if they are better. It’s just that a higher proportion of midwest students will be in a position to exercise this option, because they routinely take the ACT. Taking it is not the same as submitting it, which will only be done strategically.</p>
<p>monydad
</p>
<p>monydad I think you are looking at this in the wrong way.</p>
<p>The vast majority of mid-western students who apply to MW and NE schools only submit ACT scores (most are too lazy to also take the SATs); there are a small (but increasing) % of NE students who submit ACT scores to NE or MW schools, in lieu of (or in addition to) SAT scores, due to doing considerably better on the ACT than SAT.</p>
<p>Thus, there is no real good reason for NE schools to have lower ACT scores (why accept a NE student with a lower ACT score than a NE student with a higher</p>
<p>I spent much of HS in the northeast. Most people I know took the SAT a few times. The ACT was just an ‘extra’ test, myself and most the people i know only bothered to take it once (i did the SAT 3 times).</p>
<p>^^ The ACT isn’t superscored by colleges so there isn’t a large benefit to retaking it multiple times like there is with the SAT</p>
<p>wouldn’t have mattered, i never cared enough to take it more than once. Then again, I had a terrific score so there wasn’t really a need.</p>
<p>Oops - didn’t realize it was cut off.</p>
<p>Thus, there is no real good reason for NE schools to have lower ACT scores (why accept a NE student with a lower ACT score over a NE student with a higher comparable SAT score)?</p>
<p>“wouldn’t have mattered, i never cared enough to take it more than once. Then again, I had a terrific score so there wasn’t really a need.”</p>
<p>-If you had a terrific ACT score, why did you take the SAT 3 times?</p>
<p>guess which one I took last :(</p>
<p>abank-
With your SATs, you would be almost exactly at the midpoint of the SAT range in Cornell’s Arts and Sciences. Not sure what the SATs are at Northwestern’s Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>Cornell’s Arts and Sciences is about on par with Carleton. A little above Bowdoin, Haverford, Middlebury. A little below Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst.</p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p>
<p>I have not read this whole thread. Sorry if I repeated something already posted.</p>
<p>cornell arts and sciences is leagues below all those lac’s in terms of the education you’ll be getting…the liberal arts experience provides 1 on 1 attention, seminars of anywhere from 2 to 15 kids, and dedicated teachers who focus solely on undergrads. i don’t know quite what the above comment is based on? selectivity? whether or not someone from omaha has heard of it?</p>
<p>“cornell arts and sciences is leagues below all those lac’s in terms of the education you’ll be getting…”</p>
<p>-What a statement… I look forward to seeing the evidence…</p>
<p>“the liberal arts experience provides 1 on 1 attention, seminars of anywhere from 2 to 15 kids, and dedicated teachers who focus solely on undergrads.”</p>
<ul>
<li>This is the evidence? Lackluster at best. Nevertheless, I suppose you know that these things don’t happen at Cornell? And, sorry but, a seminar with 2 people sounds terrible to me.</li>
</ul>
<p>BrownPlease-
My statement in post #55 comparing Cornell A&S to some top LACs was based on SAT ranges.</p>
<p>I don’t know…it seems to me that I would get a good education at Cornell, I mean there is a REASON for why it has a great reputation. Also, correct me if I am wrong (thats why I am asking), but doesn’t going to Cornell look better in the job market and when applyng to graduate school?</p>
<p>“but doesn’t going to Cornell look better in the job market and when applyng to graduate school?”</p>
<p>I’m sure that would depend on the market, the job, the school, etc… I don’t know that either one would always be viewed as better.</p>