What are Stanford's Peer Schools?

warblersrule
Mon, 28 May 2007 11:43:01 +0000

b4nnd20:

No one is faulting Stanford for accepting students with lower test scores. In fact, I agree, it makes Stanford more selective because Stanford wants people with many more strengths than just test scores. But, this characteristic only makes it more accurate to say that Stanford and Duke are not peer schools. They have way different admission standards and therefore way different students.

I’m confused. If Stanford does have lower test scores (which I doubt, regardless of what College Board says), exactly how does one leap to the conclusion that they value factors other than test scores more heavily? Surely you can’t be basing that assumption on admit rate alone, unless you would assume that the College of the Ozarks (with low test scores but a 13% admit rate) is “more selective [than Duke] because it wants people with many more strengths than just test scores.”