University of Michigan – 1,666 incoming freshmen with SAT Math scores of 780 or above or composite ACT scores of 34 and above.
Dartmouth – 292 incoming freshman with SAT Math scores of 790 or above or composite ACT scores of 35 and above.
(Sorry, I can’t give exact comparisons but these are the top 25% numbers for both scores).
In other words, 800 or so incoming freshmen at Dartmouth benefit from being perceived to be among the “intellectually gifted”, while 1,600 or so incoming freshmen at University of Michigan suffer from being perceived to be only “academically accomplished” despite having higher SAT/ACT scores than 70 or 75% of the students at Dartmouth! Why is that? Because “if you walk around Michigan long enough you’ll bump into kids whose scores would have kept them out of Dartmouth.”
And that comment says a lot about why rich people prefer elite schools. They are just trying to give their child the best shot at being perceived as “intellectually gifted” instead of merely “academically accomplished” even if the majority of those students at that “elite college” wouldn’t even rank among the top 25% of students at U. Michigan!
Edit: I should add that using the CDS numbers isn’t ideal. It would be useful to also have the median SAT/ACT scores in addition to the 25 - 75%. That might show that 50% of the students at an “elite” private university would not be among the top 25% at a top public university, and yet get the benefit of the perception that they are generally “intellectually gifted”, while the top 25% at the public university start with the perception that they are merely “academically accomplished.”