<p>“In general, no. But why stop there? Do you really think that someone with a BA/BS from Iowa State or West Virginia U has the same knowledge/skill base as someone from, say, Caltech or Yale?”</p>
<p>In a word, yes. Or at least very close. A standard curricula is typically set to study at a certain depth of rigor. Once a student body reaches a sort of “threshold” level of competence, it will be capable of studying the material in the required amount of depth. Sure, individually, someone with, say a 115 IQ might have to struggle a bit and study harder to understand calculus than someone with a 130 IQ, but the ability to understand the material is there. </p>
<p>In essence, there might be a difference between studying engineering at Cornell and studying it at Penn State, but that difference I would guess is minimal, although the Cornell student body might grasp the material easier. However, the difference between a student body with an average SAT of 800 and that of a student body with an 1150 SAT is a lot greater than the difference between student bodies with 1150 and 1400, at least with capability of the rigor and intellectual depth that can be studied. If 90% of the student body struggles with basic algebra, how can the school focus on diff equations?</p>
<p>By definition, colleges agree with my point of view, or they wouldn’t require standardized exams as part of the process. OK, there are some colleges that have done away with this requirement, but they, at this point in time are fringe.</p>