<p>By the way (can’t quite let this go), the ACT medians for matriculating Carleton and Dartmouth students are almost exactly the same: 29-33 for Carleton, 29-34 for Dartmouth. SAT medians for CR run 660-750 at Carleton, 660-770 for Dartmouth. Pretty darn close. SAT medians for M run 650-740 at Carleton, 670-780 at Dartmouth (which has engineering programs).</p>
<p>From an applicant pool more than 3 times as large, with less than half the overall admit rate, Dartmouth assembles an entering class that has only slightly higher scores than Carleton’s. But Dartmouth’s yield rate is significantly higher than Carleton’s (~49% vs. ~36%). So the score medians for accepted students may well be even closer than the above medians for matriculated students, or possibly even higher at Carleton than at Dartmouth (since Carleton presumably is losing more of its highest-scoring admits than Dartmouth is.)</p>
<p>Carleton is something of a Ph.D. factory, less party-hearty and socially prestigious than Dartmouth, with less-robust sports programs. So its admit rate likely reflects fewer relatively low-scoring, relatively low-ranked candidates who may or may not have compensating hooks. Carleton nevertheless attracts its share of talented, brainy applicants and is probably the most selective LAC inside the two coasts. This is why I don’t believe every viable Dartmouth candidate will sail easily into Carleton. It depends on what qualities make one competitive at Dartmouth, to what degree, and whether those are the same qualities most attractive to Carleton. Dartmouth wait-list, Carleton deny is not an implausible outcome, with Colorado and Whitman as likely admits. This is why we have multiple back-ups and do not take second-choice schools for granted.</p>