SAT Scores-Balanced vs Lopsided

Applying to College
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<p>A common way of evaluating a school’s student body is to compare the scores on the Critical Reading with the Math section. Students that have nearly similar levels of scoring on each section would be assumed to have roughly equal skills. </p>

<p>Using Yahoo Education, I created the following compilation of schools in the USNWR Top 30 and what % of their students scored above 700 on the Critical Reading and what % scored above 700 on the Math section. It was interesting to see that the three most highly ranked schools (HYP) showed the greatest balance with Brown, Georgetown and Tufts close behind. Only three schools (Columbia, U Chicago, and Georgetown) had a higher % of their students scoring over 700 on CR vs Math.</p>

<p>For lopsided scores, the premier engineering colleges strongly showed this tendency (Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Caltech) as well some broader universities (Cornell, U Michigan, Johns Hopkins, UCLA). In all cases, the Math score was considerably higher. </p>

<p>Following are the complete numbers:</p>

<p>USN Rank, School, % of students over 700 on CR, % over 700 on Math, differential, rank from most balanced to least balanced scores</p>

<p>1 Princeton 73%/ 74%/ 1%/ 2
2 Harvard 73%/ 74%/ 1%/ 2
3 Yale 78%/ 78%/ 0%/ 1
4 Cal Tech 77%/ 96%/ 19%/ 25
4 Stanford 59%/ 67%/ 8%/ 13
4 MIT 68%/ 92%/ 24%/ 29
7 U Penn 54%/ 69%/ 15%/ 21
8 Duke 63%/ 68%/ 5%/ 8
9 U Chicago /61%/ 57%/ -4%/ 7
9 Dartmouth 6/5%/ 70%/ 5%/ 8
9 Columbia 67%/ 60/%/ -7%/ 11
12 Wash U StL 60%/ 76%/ 16%/ 23
12 Cornell 38%/ 59%/ 21%/ 27
14 Northwestern 53%/ 63%/ 10%/ 16
15 Brown 64%/ 66%/ 2%/ 4
16 J Hopkins 40%/ 60%/ 20%/ 26
17 Rice 57%/ 63%/ 6%/ 10
18 Emory 32%/ 45%/ 13%/ 19
18 Vanderbilt 41%/ 52%/ 11%/ 18
20 Notre Dame 47%/ 57%/ 10%/ 16
21 UC Berkeley 31%/ 46%/ 15%/ 21
21 Carnegie Mellon 33%/ 71%/ 38%/ 30
23 Georgetown 53%/ 51%/ -2%/ 4
24 U Michigan 21%/ 43%/ 22%/ 28
24 U Virginia 31% 40%/ 9%/ 14
26 UCLA 21%/ 39%/ 18%/ 24
27 USC 36%/ 50%/ 14%/ 20
27 Tufts 56%/ 59%/ 3%/ 6
27 U North Carolina 22%/ 29%/ 7%/ 11
30 Wake Forest 29%/ 38%/ 9%/ 14</p>

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<p>woah interesting…</p>

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<p>Here is the data for the schools ranked 31-47 by USNWR:</p>

<p>USN Rank, School, % over 700 on CR, % over 700 on M, differential</p>

<p>31 Brandeis 41%/ 43%/ 2%
31 W & M 44%/ 35%/ -9%
33 Lehigh 13%/ 39%/ 26%
34 Boston College 26%/ 40%/ 14%
34 NYU 30%/ 36%/ 6%
34 U Rochester 24%/ 31%/ 7%
34 U Wisconsin 15%/ 31%/ 16%
38 UC SD 13%/ 30%/ 17%
38 Georgia Tech 18%/ 44%/ 26%
38 Case Western 25%/ 44%/ 19%
41 U Illinois UC 15%/ 46%/ 31%
42 Rensselaer 19%/ 48%/ 29%
42 U Washington 11%/ 18%/ 7%
44 UC Irvine 8%/ 19%/ 11%
44 Tulane 36%/ 23%/ -13%
44 Yeshiva 5%/ 5%/ 0%
47 UC Davis 8%/ 17%/ 9%
47 UC S Barbara 10%/ 15%/ 5%
47 U Florida 15%/ 21%/ 6%
47 Penn State 8%/ 15%/ 7%
47 U Texas 14%/ 25%/ 11%</p>

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<p>How are people getting into these schools with such low SAT scores?</p>

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<p>You notice only 5 of the top 50 have higher verbal than writing?</p>

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<p>hawkette, it is fascinating the kind of info and research you provide. Also, some people are on this blog all the time, do they have any life outside? I am becoming like one of those.</p>

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<p>UC Berkeley 31%/ 46%/ 15%/ 21
UCLA 21%/ 39%/ 18%/ 24</p>

<p>these facts are really giving me hopes!! im really surprised…</p>

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<p>very interesting finding!</p>

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<p>ya but you gotta take into consideratino at the UC’s that they probably give benefit of the doubt to instate applicants with lower sat scores</p>

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<p>Wow…21% over 700 for verbal at UCLA and Michigan…YES!!</p>

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<p>These numbers, especially for UCs, are shockingly low.</p>

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<p>Wow! I thought that almost all of the numbers for the Ivies would have been in the 90’s. Then again, CC is perhaps the worst place to get a scope on what the standardized testing scores are like at these top schools.</p>

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<p>If you’re excited about UCLA and U Michigan at 21% over 700 on verbal, then you must be even more excited by UC Berkeley (31%), U Virginia (31%), U North Carolina (22%), and William & Mary (44%). These are all excellent state universities.</p>

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<p>I don’t think the UC numbers are shocking. The UC schools have a strong transfer population–the UC system is set up so that the UCs will admit students who have proven themselves through college-level work at community colleges. For these students, the UC system is going to rely less on standardized tests.</p>

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<p>This reinforces that Tufts is underrated and the State u’s are overrated for undergrads.</p>