<p>The OP’s comparison is between Duke admitted students and Chicago enrolled students. Obviously that is not a fair comparison. When you look at the enrolled students at both schools as david05 did it is clear Chicago has higher SAT scores in every category.</p>
<p>Percent of freshmen(Class of 2015) in each SAT score range
UChicago Reading 700 – 800 78%
UChicago Reading 600 – 699 20%
UChicago Reading 500 – 599 2%</p>
<p>UChicago Math 700 – 800 78%
UChicago Math 600 – 699 21%
UChicago Math 500 – 599 1%</p>
<p>To be fair, a higher percentage of students submit their SAT scores to Duke, 80% vs Chicago’s 68%. The ACT, though, is more popular in the Midwest so it’s very possible that Chicago gets more applicants from the Midwest and so more people submitting ACT scores instead of SAT scores than in Duke. I’ll do research on the exact numbers and post my results later.</p>
<p>Just as suspected, at 32% vs 8%, Chicago has much more students from the Midwest than Duke, so it makes sense then that a larger percentage of the admitted student body would have forgone taking the SAT and instead chosen to send only ACT scores. Interestingly, Illinois is the one state in the Midwest where the SAT is more popular, that 32% is still a very big number. The links provided by david05 show Chicago having a higher ACT average as well, so overall, Chicago first years DO have higher scores than Duke’s. My guess, though, is that Duke has more recruited athletes and so this can account for the lower scores. Yes, I’m aware that not all recruited athletes are academically below normal standards, having met quite a few very academically strong and brilliant ones myself, but the students with low scores and such more often than not are recruited athletes. This will prob be my last post, seeing as I refuse to continue to feed the ■■■■■, but I want to thank happyman2 for providing me with a mini research exercise this morning. I have more questions as a result of what I found, but I’ll leave it at this for now and go enjoy my summer.*</p>
<p>Happyman:
This Duke vs. UChicago flaming has to stop. They’re both amazing schools, and had I not been waitlisted at Duke, I may have had a tough decision to make. By posting this, you’ve stooped to Phuriku’s level. I must admit, though, that as annoying as Phuriku may be, he’s always an informed poster. If you’re going to play his game, you might as well ensure you don’t look like a fool while doing so.</p>
<p>I don’t know why it matters which school has the higher SAT scores. I’m sure if having higher scores was the priority, each school would take students with higher scores over those with lower. However, we all know that plenty of people who test high routinely get denied from both places, and plenty of people whose strengths may lie elsewhere also get accepted.</p>
<p>^Thanks for that article, J’adoube. I found the final decision on David, Roberto, and Justin especially interesting. Many on CC might mistake Justin getting in over David as simple WUSTL-esque yield protection. </p>
<p>“We’re not ‘building a class,’ creating this ideal little world with so many of these and so many of those,” O’Neill says. “We accept the best, and hope to get as many as we can.”</p>
<p>UChicago’s SAT score for the class of 2015 is among the nation’s top five highest, on top of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and just below Yale, Princeton, CalTech and Columbia. SAT means something, but not everything.</p>