<p>gellino</p>
<p>Your data is interesting.</p>
<p>However, I have several friends (including a roommate) who worked on Wall Street last summer and Dartmouth=Duke > Yale (between us we had the big four covered, which IMHO is GS MS ML and LB for IB...arguable but whatever). I have no idea about MIT. Not many kids in IB at all for MIT, probably more in SandT and I didn't have access to any S and T info.</p>
<p>thethoughtprocess,
Dartmouth=Duke > Yale is usually the case at the big four based on what I've seen and heard. In addition, Princeton > Dartmouth=Duke is usually the case as well.</p>
<p>gellino
So you did form your opinion of which school has smarter students on average from SAT scores. Are Caltech students (average SAT: 1525) smarter than Yale students (average SAT: 1485) on average? Are MIT students (average SAT: 1470) smarter than Stanford students (average SAT: 1445) on average?</p>
<p>My three roommates and I had what certainly would be viewed as having four of the top seven IBs covered with analyst positions after graduating and don't remember noticing any inherent differences between Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth in our respective classes. The main thing I noticed was that Harvard and Penn (Wharton) had by far the most. I am also taken aback about all this talk about MIT as I don't remember anyone from there in any of our classes. You're right that S&T would make more sense.</p>
<p>SAT certainly is one measure of having smarter students and what are considered the best schools or else admissions and USNWR wouldn't be using it. I would say CalTech's students are the smartest , on average, because they aren't trying to fill a D-I football team or other development programs like Yale or Princeton, but are solely (or at least) more focused on just trying to get the smartest people. They also don't seem that concerned about yield maintenance. If they see someone they want, they'll accept him and if he chooses Princeton instead, so be it. Plus, SAT avgs change every year. When I was in school, MIT's avg SAT was higher than Yale and Stanford wasn't so much lower than the others. </p>
<p>This is again why you need to be more concerned about the indivuiduals and not the school they are from or what year they graduated from the school they are from to see the relative pecking order. I ask you, would you rather be at a school that was ranked #5 when you enrolling and #12 five years later or one that was ranked #12 when you were enrolling and #5 five years later?</p>
<p>"SAT certainly is one measure of having smarter students and what are considered the best schools or else admissions and USNWR wouldn't be using it."</p>
<p>gellino
Changes have swept through college admissions process since the time you were in school. SAT is not as good as an indicator as it used to be. Now, many students taking the SAT three or four times, and schools only take the highest score in each section. If a student gets 800 on math & 700 on critical reading the first time and 700 on math & 800 on critical reading the second time, a school would consider that person got 1600. (Writing was excluded here for simplicity). Dartmouth has a higher average SAT than Columbia, but it doesn't mean that students at Dartmouth are smarter than those at Columbia on average. Students at Columbia are just as smart as the ones at Dartmouth.
Since when did USNWR's rankings become a respected authority? USNWR is the one who published a much higher PA score for UMich compared with that of UPenn.</p>
<p>gellino
Dartmouth has a higher average SAT than Stanford, but it doesn't mean that students at Dartmouth are smarter than those at Stanford on average. Students at Stanford are just as smart as the ones at Dartmouth on average.</p>
<p>"Yale has more grads than MIT at 8/10 firms and an overall advantage of 353-300; so how is MIT providing better opportunities for IB?"</p>
<p>Can you post where you're getting you're data? Also, MIT's graduating class is a little over 1000 whereas Yale graduates over 1300 a year. Looking at absolute numbers means nothing.</p>
<p>IPBear, I generally agree with you, although Dartmouth has had higher SAT average for the last 25+ years. I don't really track these numbers anymore, but would have thought that Stanford's avg, or at least median SAT, would have been higher than Dartmouth. I don't put a lot of stock on USNWR rankings, other than providing a general broad range, but many on here seem to treat it as gospel, which I find particularly perplexing since it has been known to change so much from one year to the next.</p>
<p>Data comes from Bloomberg profiles. I would say per capita numbers are more telling, but wouldn't say absolute numbers mean nothing since it indicates the number of alums potentially in position to help you or lend credibility to your school.</p>
<p>Stanford's average (1445 according to latest data) is lower than Dartmouth's (1450 according to latest data); Stanford's 75th percentile (2310 according to latest data) is also lower than Dartmouth's (2320 according to latest data). But this doesn't mean Dartmouth students are smarter than Stanford students on average. Some high schoolers worship USNWR's rankings, but companies and grad schools have their own ideas on which schools are great.</p>
<p>While Stanford's class is maybe 50% larger than Dartmouth, they are also trying to fill it with higher profile athletes, which is going to bring down their SAT mean more than the median. One of these threads posted that the avg SAT of the Stanford football team was 1070, which while #1 among D-I schools, is going to be pretty far below Dartmouth, which is probably more ~ 1300.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has to worry about poor performing children of legacies. Besides, we are talking about averages here. Every school has its excuses for an average not as high as Harvard's.</p>
<p>does anything really differ at any of these schools. NO!</p>
<p>Precisely. Students at Stanford are just as smart as the ones at Dartmouth on average.</p>