<p>^NU’s acceptance rate is higher; so it gives you the impression that Penn/Brown’s students are of higher caliber because of whom they <em>reject</em>, not whom they accepted. At the end of the day, Chicago/NU students have similar SAT/ACT scores as Brown/Penn. In terms of #students winning prestigious fellowships in recent years, Chicago/NU may have been even doing better than Penn (just based on what I can recall; I haven’t looked into Brown that much). Saying one is at higher level than other is splitting hairs. Also, it seems to me you are being inconsistent by lumping Columbia/Dartmouth with Brown/Penn together when actually the former pair have higher test scores than the latter; yet, at the same time, you think Penn/Brown are at higher level than Chicago/NU when Chicago/NU/Brown/Penn have similar test scores (in case you are wondering who has had the lowest in recent years, it’s actually Penn). Seeing how you like splitting hairs, I would expect you to add another layer between Columbia/Dartmouth and at least Penn, if not Brown also. </p>
<p>I also wonder if you go school in NE; NU has the most trouble to get kids from that area. I wouldn’t be surprised if NU is a bit easier on them as NU tries to build a diverse class.</p>