What are Liberal Art Schools?

tk21769
Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:37:18 +0000

What vossron is suggesting is, very roughly, the kind of method Washington Monthly’s “social mobility” ranking attempts to apply (not using score differentials but predicted v. actual graduation rates.) I’ve seen no other public measurement that tries to isolate the effects of the school experience from the effects of the admissions process.

Williamsdad’s list appears to track average SAT scores closely. So you cannot assume it tells anything about the relative value each school adds. Or not enough, in my opinion, to override personal “fit” preferences. As vossron suggests, the best way to increase your med school chances may not be to go to the most selective college that admits you, but the one most likely to bring out your best performance (which may or may not be 2 different things).

The relatively strong performance of many LACs is interesting. But how significant is the 5-pt. spread between, say, Cornell and Harvard?