<p>after HYP, based on where students with multiple acceptances choose to go
[Parchment</a> College Rankings 2013 | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=“http://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php]Parchment”>http://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php)</p>
<p>So Brown, the school with the happiest students, comes in just under U. of Chicago, the place where fun goes to die?</p>
<p>It’s not a simple rank preference list: </p>
<p>Matchups are scored based on expectation. At the beginning, all schools have the same score, so we expect that all schools have an equal chance of winning a matchup. Quickly, our expectations change. We see that Berkeley rapidly gains points, for example. Our Elo-based system awards more points for unexpected victories against a college with a higher score, an average number of points for victories against another college with a similar score, and fewer points for expected victories against a school with fewer points. In fact, the number of points awarded to the chosen school (and taken from the not-chosen school) is determined by a formula that takes into account the current score of both schools. To use Berkeley as an example again, when Berkeley is chosen over a school with a similar amount of points (such as UCLA), it earns more points than when it is chosen over a school with fewer points. If a student were to choose to attend a university with far fewer points than Berkeley, that university would gain many more points from that victory than Berkeley would have if the student had chosen Berkeley instead.</p>
<p>Does Brown’s recent introduction of need-blind financial aid play a role in its recent increase?</p>
<p>Hmm - I would expect that Brown would have more unexpected victories than, say, Columbia/UPenn/Cornell. But who would win in, say, a Brown vs. Columbia matchup? (of people applying to schools this year).</p>