<p>AEM, I see, is extremely selective, but their SAT scores are actually below average for Cornell. What's the reason for this?</p>
<p>A few athletes with very bad scores that skew the data leftward</p>
<p>^ That makes no sense. All the averages are calculated as medians, and therefore the "few" athletes that you speak of would not skew the data that much if any (ie it doesnt matter if they scored 1000 or 1350 as long as it is below the median)</p>
<p>From teh AEM website</p>
<p>Applications for Class of 2010 Reach Another Record High
AEM received a record-setting 855 freshman applications for the Class of 2010, a 23% increase over the previous year. As a result, AEM’s acceptance rate fell from an already low 20% to 16%.
The academic abilities and diversity of the 136 admitted students were exceptional. Their median SAT was 1360, with 44% reporting SAT scores of 1400 or better. They came from 23 states and U.S. territories (47% from New York State) and 4 foreign countries (Canada, China, Kenya, and South Korea). And of those reporting ethnicity, 25% were underrepresented minorities.
Leadership skills were reflected in their impressive high school and work accomplishments. Over 50% had a significant part-time or summer work experience, including internships at the New York Mercantile Exchange, Polaris, Merrill Lynch, and Cargill. Fourteen were class presidents, 39 team captains, and 8 participated in the summer LEAD program. Other accomplishments included newspaper editor, Girls/Boys State representative, JROTC lieutenant colonel, and Science Olympiad gold medal winner.
From this impressive group of high school seniors, 87 accepted our offer of admission for a yield of 64%. We look forward to welcoming these new AEMers to Warren Hall and the Cornell campus in August.</p>
<p>Freshman Applications, Fall 2006
No. of Freshman Applications 855
No. of Admissions Offers 136 (16%)
Gender of Admitted Students 63% Male
37% Female
Location of Admitted Students 47% New York State
50% Out-of-State
3% International
Median SAT (Verbal, Math) 660V, 700M
Yield 64%</p>
<p>I'm guessing it has to do with the 25% URM's.</p>
<p>There are, in fact, enough URM's, athletes, and just plain idiots to skew the data. Sadly, the mean SAT score would most likely be a lot lower than the median.</p>