I don’t post much anymore, but i do like helping prospective students where i can for my alma maters.
I think it would be good to post entering freshman stats for various schools in this thread as they will be pertinent to students applying in this round.
Hopkins:
Enrolled Freshman SAT middle 50 range: 1420 to 1530 (these are combined ranges, individual ranges for math and verbal might be less than 1420 in aggregate; upper range is consistent with last year’s enrolled class range of 1360 to 1530. Larger amount of enrolled asians (28%) this year compared to last year (21%) likely accounts for the increase in test scores on lower range.
Students in top 10% class rank: 92% (last year was 88%)
Enrolled freshman SAT range: estimated at 1400 to 1580 based on admitted student stats with slight decrease proportional to previous years admitted versus enrolled (1380 to 1570 last year was the enrolled range)
Top 10 percent rank of enrolled freshman proportion: estimated at 96% (95% last year)
Acceptance rate: 5% compared to same last year (5.07%)
What is interesting is that some schools not as selective as stanford (hopkins, uchicago, vanderbilt, wustl) now have higher lower SAT 25th percentiles. Part of this might be due to Stanford’s larger DI athletes population (vandy not withstanding)
Good observation! In addition to the variable of how many athletes & what % they are of the entire student body, is the question of “how low will they go”…each school must decide for themselves (outside of the Ivies who have a formula in place, although that can be “gamed”, i.e. Harvard basketball) how far below the typical student they will go in admitting athletes. Many times when great academic schools get significantly better in a major sport my hunch is that the present coach there is getting kids in that his predecessor could not. Some high level academic schools have hurt their national reputations a bit by doing this, Berkley & Georgetown come to mind.
The following colleges all had higher average SAT scores than Stanford (based on the midpoints of 25th-75th percentile SAT-M + SAT-CR ranges reported in their current US News “ranking indicator” entries), notwithstanding higher admission rates than Stanford’s:
1545 (1490-1600) Caltech (99% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1515 (1440-1590) Chicago (98% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1505 (1410-1600) Harvard (95% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1505 (1420-1590) Yale (95% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1505 (1410-1600) Princeton (95% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1500 (1430-1570) MIT (99% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1485 (1400-1570) Columbia (93% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1480 (1400-1560) Harvey Mudd (97% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
1475 (1380-1570) Stanford ( (96% of Freshmen were in top 10 percent of high school class)
WUSTL and Vanderbilt also appear to have higher average SAT scores than Stanford (although SAT ranges are not reported in their USNWR “ranking indicator” entries.) **The above numbers are based on 2013 data/b. Some of these positions may change slightly from year to year.
US News tracks “selectivity” by a weighted combination of SAT M+CR, class standing, and admit rates.
Their formula ignores the effects of ECs and other “holistic” inputs altogether.
I would not conclude, based only on that formula, that Caltech, Chicago or Columbia truly is “more selective” than Stanford.
@swimchris add back in the 17% international students who didn’t submit SAT, and the lowest portion of test takers that were placed into Spring enrollment (test scores not counted) and Northeastern profile is totally different.
Good school for a full pay that wants to be in Boston, do co-op without the rigor of the super competitive schools.
People used to make threads with the CDS links but now that there is collegedata it is a lot easier to look up. Not sure when the update for the new year though.
