Here is my list of “top” schools in a few more states
AZ 1150 Arizona State University-Tempe
DE 1170 University of Delaware
ID 1120 Northwest Nazarene University
MS 1143 Millsaps College
MS 1115 University of Mississippi
MT 1130 Montana State University
MT 1105 Montana Tech of the University of Montana
NE 1165 Creighton University
CO definitely Colorado College 1390
This question is so dependent on subjective criteria and varies so greatly depending on the field of study that it really is meaningless. University of Chicago is arguably the most “selective” college in Illinois, but if a student is interested in engineering or journalism, it is definitely NOT the top college in the state for that student. Both Northwestern and Chicago have great economics departments, but they’re different in how they approach the subject. So, again, the top school will depend on factors that go far beyond measures like average SAT score or general rankings. Higher education is more complex than the liberal arts approach the formed the model at the beginning of the 20th century, so the idea of a single “top” college seems very outdated to me.
For Colorado, the listed schools are USAFA, Colorado School of Mines, and U of Denver. Well, what if you don’t want to major in engineering (in or out of the military)? Pretty limited options then. I love DU, but it is not the ‘best’ in every major.
SAT score doesn’t show much. In Colorado, more students use ACT scores than SAT, since until this year the ACT was give to all high school students as the NCLB exam. Free.
EllieMom, of course it is important that the school offers the major of interest. However, a high percentage of undergraduates change majors. Furthermore, undergraduates are required to take the majority of their coursework in areas outside their major in order to receive a well-rounded education. Furthermore, a major factor influencing the overall quality of the educational experience is the academic level of sophistication of your fellow students who will have many different majors. Therefore, the overall SAT midpoint is highly relevant.
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The OP’s question is (emphasis mine)
Of course it’s subjective, and is, for all intents and purposes, a parlor game, which is why I moved it to the cafe.
Here is a list for states that did not have many schools with an SAT midpoint above 1200.
AK 1075 University of Alaska Fairbanks
AZ 1150 Arizona State University-Tempe
AZ 1132 Arizona State University-Polytechnic
AZ 1070 Arizona State University-Downtown Phoenix
AZ 1064 Arizona State University-West
AZ 1060 Prescott College
HI 1080 University of Hawaii at Manoa
HI 1066 Brigham Young University-Hawaii
ID 1120 Northwest Nazarene University
ID 1050 University of Idaho
ID 1033 Boise State University
IN 1445 University of Notre Dame
IN 1195 Purdue University-Main Campus
IN 1175 Indiana University-Bloomington
IN 1164 Butler University
IN 1160 DePauw University
KS 1080 Baker University
KS 1068 Wichita State University
KS 1063 Benedictine College
KY 1210 Centre College
KY 1125 University of Kentucky
KY 1120 Asbury University
KY 1110 Berea College
LA 1325 Tulane University of Louisiana
LA 1155 University of Louisiana at Monroe
LA 1130 Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
LA 1130 Loyola University New Orleans
ME 1370 Colby College
ME 1070 University of Maine
ME 1045 University of New England
ME 1035 Maine Maritime Academy
MS 1143 Millsaps College
MS 1115 University of Mississippi
MS 1092 Mississippi College
MT 1130 Montana State University
MT 1105 Carroll College
MT 1105 Montana Tech of the University of Montana
MT 1075 The University of Montana
ND 1145 North Dakota State University-Main Campus
ND 1075 University of North Dakota
ND 1050 University of Mary
ND 1025 Dickinson State University
NE 1165 Creighton University
NE 1135 University of Nebraska-Lincoln
NE 1090 Nebraska Wesleyan University
NE 1070 University of Nebraska at Omaha
NE 1030 Union College
NE 1020 Doane University-Arts & Sciences
NH 1455 Dartmouth College
NH 1135 Saint Anselm College
NH 1100 University of New Hampshire at Manchester
NH 1095 University of New Hampshire-Main Campus
NM 1230 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
NM 1075 University of New Mexico-Main Campus
NV 1085 University of Nevada-Reno
OK 1245 University of Tulsa
OK 1203 University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus
OK 1109 Oklahoma City University
OK 1085 Oklahoma State University-Main Campus
OK 1080 Oklahoma Christian University
OK 1043 Oklahoma Baptist University
OR 1380 Reed College
OR 1280 Lewis & Clark College
OR 1190 University of Portland
OR 1120 Pacific University
OR 1115 Oregon State University
OR 1100 University of Oregon
PR 1097 University of Puerto Rico-Cayey
RI 1470 Brown University
RI 1135 Providence College
RI 1070 University of Rhode Island
SC 1245 Clemson University
SC 1210 University of South Carolina-Columbia
SC 1160 Wofford College
SD 1080 Augustana University
SD 1060 University of Sioux Falls
SD 1045 University of South Dakota
SD 1025 South Dakota State University
UT 1270 Brigham Young University-Provo
UT 1175 University of Utah
UT 1105 Westminster College
UT 1100 Utah State University
UT 1020 Southern Utah University
VT 1388 Middlebury College
VT 1200 University of Vermont
VT 1130 Champlain College
WV 1023 West Virginia University
WY 1085 University of Wyoming
Data available from IPEDS lags by quite a bit. These are Old SAT scores (not just in the sense of age, but also entirely the Old test, before the 2016 Redesign). The admissions landscape has changed in the two years since class of 2016, app numbers up, acceptance rated down, by a surprising amount.
Speaking of parlor games, I’ve been wanting to make a list of all the schools with (current) enrolled middle 50 percentiles at 31-34 ACT because it feels like there are so many. I am looking forward to the 2018-19 CDS, with all New SAT scores, whereas the 2017-18 CDS has Old and New mixed. Too bad most won’t be posted until after apps are due in the fall. Harvard finally released its 2017-18 CDS last week - slackers.
@collegehelp I don’t understand your insistence on using SAT midpoint (a measure of student aptitude/achievement collected before the college, itself, is even in the picture) as an indicator of “top” college. A college is more than the sum of its students. And a student body is more than the average of its test scores. If you want to use that as a measure of selectivity, I can see test scores or GPA or acceptance rate as being a somewhat appropriate measurement. But it still doesn’t measure what the college has to offer, which is presumably what is being assessed when determining what a “top” college would be. Ranking one college as “better” than another based on statistically insignificant differences on only one of several factors that determine student selection (and one that may be less relevant in some geographic areas than in others as was pointed out by @twoinanddone) simply does not reflect the complexity of the college choice and application process. And, by focusing on data collected at the beginning of the educational process, misses any focus on the institutional factors that should be measured in such an assessment, such as college experience, outcome, and return-on-investment.
SAT scores are correlated +.81 with graduation rates. They are also highly correlated with freshman retention. SAT scores are standardized and eliminate the big problem with GPA and class rank (they reflect the grading standards of the high school and the difficulty of the courses taken by individual students within a high school). Acceptance rates are somewhat correlated with SATs. A school’s reputation generates more applications and reputation stems mostly from the quality of the student body .Just about everything good about a college stems from the academic quality of the student body. The “value added” by the college has mostly to do with creating an experience that allows students to live up to their potential. US News is able to predict pretty accurately what the graduation rate should be using things like SAT and expenditures per student. They report the difference between predicted graduation rate and actual graduation rate. This comes close to being a measure of “value added” by the college. The differences are generally not very large, by the way. Furthermore, a college may have a lower than expected graduation rate because it has a big engineering program which is a notoriously difficult curriculum. SAT and grad rate are the best indicators of overall quality. And, SAT predicts grad rate.
For Colorado, UColorado Boulder is also good
Idaho has the College of Idaho as well.