<p>No. That’s not what I said.</p>
<p>It does mean that Pomona may be a bit harder to get into than either Swarthmore or Williams. It’s a little hard to tell because last year Pomona and Swat had the same 75th percentile scores, but the 25th percentile scores were 20 points higher at Pomona – indicating a different distribution in either the accepted or enrolled cohorts. This could indicate a number of factors, ranging from degree of affirmative action to the relative attractiveness of UC state universities to applicants from the lower end of Pomona’s pool.</p>
<p>I think USNEWS does a pretty decent job with their selectivity index (based mostly on SATs and % of students in the top-10% of their graduating class). On their index, Pomona, Amherst, and Swarthmore are tied for the #2 spot for overall selectivity, behind Harvery Mudd. That sounds about right to me. On average, I think that all three of those schools are equally difficult to get into overall. Individual circumstances may shift things in one direction or another. For example, applying to Pomona from the East Coast or Swarthmore from the West Coast probably shifts the odds slightly in the student’s favor.</p>
<p>The difference between Wesleyan and Amherst/Swarthmore is more pronounced on top-10 % than on SAT scores. If I had to guess (and I really haven’t looked at Wes that closely), I would guess that Wes probably enrolls more kids from competitive prep schools. That’s generally where students outside of the top-10% class rank come from. With the exception of magnet schools, it’s difficult to get into any of the top LACs from outside the top decile at public schools.</p>
<p>BTW, I never said that there was a 70-90 point spread between Wesleyan and Swat’s SAT scores.</p>