<p>I realize I’m coming late to this, but the topic is very relevant to me as I’m the parent of a student who wants to major in chemistry (possibly with a double-major or major-minor arrangement in business), and we’ve been strongly urged by her college adviser, who graduated with a different major from Emory, to apply there. I very much appreciate hearing about the chemistry department and vibe there.</p>
<p>Bernie mentioned financial aid as a factor, and I think this may be a much larger reason for the increase in SAT scores in some schools than has been discussed. For many if not most students attending private schools, finances are a HUGE part of the picture (there’re also a huge part for students attending public colleges also!).</p>
<p>With respect to Emory v. Vanderbilt, it seems that for my child Emory would be a better match. From what I’ve heard anecdotally though, as well as policy-wise, Vanderbilt seems in general to give better, sometimes much better, financial aid, so we’re urging her to consider applying there as well as Emory, Duke, Rice, and other schools. (I realize of course that the opposite could occur with respect to funding). If she were accepted to both but with substantially better funding from Vanderbilt, there’s a good chance that she would choose either Vandy or a public school where she’s guaranteed nearly a full ride rather than go into extensive debt (“extensive”, of course, being open to interpretation).</p>
<p>If Vanderbilt didn’t have a reputation for great aid and (I believe) a no-loan policy, she probably wouldn’t apply there. Re the two public schools she’s applying to, one is our flagship which is only mediocre overall (even the Honors College), the other is the flagship of a southern state which is very actively and purposefully increasing its scores and ranking by offering very generous scholarships to both in and OOS residents based solely on GPA and standardized scores. There’s nothing wrong with that, either - my child as well as my DH and I would be very happy to avoid debt with a full or near-full ride. So that may account for at least some of the happiness at Vanderbilt - get a lot of high-scoring students in by offering them money, and everyone’s (more or less) happy.</p>
<p>Of course money isn’t everything even though it’s hugely important - for example, if my child wanted to pursue a Ph.D. and career in chemistry (right now she doesn’t), we’d be more inclined to go into debt to choose Emory. And the fact that Emory has a better business school also makes it more likely that we’d accept a higher level of debt than we otherwise might. But everything has its limits, and while a$20,000 (for example) level of debt over four years might be acceptable, $60,000 in debt wouldn’t be. So a lot of things will come into play, funding being not the only thing, but probably overall the largest one component.</p>
<p>So in all, I wouldn’t be surprised if generous financial aid were a large factor in Vanderbilt’s improving SAT scores. It certainly wouldn’t be the only school to improve its standing that way - witness the southern flagship my child is considering. I’ve been told as well that the University of Texas (possibly just UT-Austin) became a nationally-known school after several years of offering generous financial packages not only to top students but to professors also - my husband described several faculty members as the school where he worked being called and asked ‘name your price’. </p>
<p>I know that this doesn’t apply to Washington U. - St. Louis, which has the reputation for offering little aid as well as being need-aware, but I think for a lot of schools as well as everything else in life - money talks.</p>