<p>Absolutely true. And the main way that you achieve these goals is to have a sizable cohort of talented, inspirational peers so that other talented prospective students see students like themselves and decide “I could fit in here.”</p>
<p>Right…that’s why a person doesn’t necessarily get the “whole story” if they just look at a state school’s mid 50 range. The mid 50 range may not be spectacular, but those kids probably aren’t largely found in the harder majors. State flagships offer hundreds of majors ranging from rather easy to intensely difficult. State flagships should serve a dual purpose…provide an education suitable for a wide range of residents and provide a high-tech, state of the art education for those who will be the future scientists, physicians, etc. A state flagship ceases doing the former when kids with “good stats” can no longer have access. I think that can be a mistake. </p>
<p>So, it can be a mistake for a prospective student to just look at the mid 50s range, and conclude…“I don’t want to be stuck going to school with kids with those lower ACT/SAT scores.” Believe me, those kids with the lower stats aren’t likely going to be in the major that a high stats kid is choosing. You don’t generally find kids with an ACT 26 (which is 84th percentile) taking Boundary Value Problems, Stochastic Processes, Molecular Biology, Integrated Genomics, Inorganic Chemistry, and/or Spectroscopic Techniques in Organic Chemistry.</p>
<p>Back to topic… :)</p>
<p>It’s very hard to get a “full ride” at a top 100 national U, without being a NMF. There are some fine 3rd and 4th tier schools that might award a full ride for a 2100+ SAT (with probably at least a 1400 M+CR SAT)</p>